IYQ

I decided to go up to City of rocks for a few days about noon today. I stopped at WalMart for groceries and shortly after leaving there I heard a loud hissing sound. At first I thought it was coming from something in the area I was going through but it persisted. In down town Deming I pulled to the curb to check it out. Neither of the radios were on so I started turning switches off. When I hit the LP valve switch it stopped. I was only a couple blocks from Jimmy's RV so I went there. The Gas regulator had blown and when you opened the tank valve a hugh cloud of gas came out from under the rig. $102 latter I was on my way again with a new regulator. I feel lucky I didn't blow half of Deming (Including me) off the map. I lost a quarter tank of gas but I've got a big smile on my face because that is all I lost. Now for a Steve. Źzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

We got quite a bit of rain last night. I woke up to lake side property this morning but it went down pretty fast. It never got out of the 60s today. I did get my walk in but had to dodge puddles to do it. I spent most the day yakking with friend over in the bunk house. I ordered some CamCo leveling ramps from Amazon on Monday and they came today. Boy they are gitting speedy. Business must be slowing down again and they aren't shipping enough to customers to keep UPS and the like busy. I may go to City of rocks tomorrow just to change scenery for a while.

We just had a hail storm with dime sized hail. It only lasted about 10 minutes but that was long enough to turn the ground white. The funny thing about it is the sun was shining all during the storm. I went over to Holiday World in Las Cruces today and read them the riot act about the gear box for my power skylight/vent on the Navion. This has been going on since June 19th when I bought the rig. I may have chewed out a few people who didn't have a horse in this race but I think I got them on the ball. On the way home I got a phone call from the service department saying the part was reordered and expidited and should be here at the end of the week. I hope so because my next move is to have a chat with the CEO of the company and if that don't produce action I'll turn it over to a lawyer. I had planned to go up to City of rocks for a few days but will call that off until next week.

I've been researching Hybrid, Electric and Plug in Hybrid cars today. I'm thinking of getting a Towed for the Navion. An all electric might work fine except when I'm boonedocking. It would be a little hard to find a current bush for it while out in the booneys. Maybe a plugin Hybrid would be the best choice but the electric only range on those is very small. Hybrids like the Toyota Prius get over 50 MPG so maybe it wouldn't be worth the extra money to get the plugin model. Too many things to consider it's making my brain sore. At least I know I have one when it gets sore. Does anyone know of a street legal 4 wheeler that can be towed 4 down? A nice cool day today and only a couple sprinkles in the rain department but I pretty much wasted it researching cars. I did get the LP tank filled on the Navion finally. It was withing a half gallon of being completely empty. I might head for Holiday World tomorrow and read them the riot act on that gearbox for the big roof vent.

Cowgirl Margie and yours truly went out to the Adobe Deli tonight for cod fish. It's a bit over priced there but boy is it good. It rained most of the morning so it's a bit messy out side so this morning I stayed in the rig looking out the window. I got so bored that I actually turned on the TV for the second time since I bought it in 2008. I watched a little bit of foot ball. It was a lousy game so I changed channels and watched the Munsters and the real Mc Coys. I had forgotten how funny those programs really were. Moving the telescope over to the Navion didn't happen so I do have a job for tomorrow.

We got a little bit of rain today. It was just enough to keep things cool. The hi so far is Only 77 or if you trust NOAA 74. I'm sure glad to get rid of all those 90+ days. I wish I had filled the LP tank yesterday. I would have gone up to City of Rocks for the weekend. Tomorrow I think I'll fix a place in the Navion for my telescope. It would be nice to have when I'm out running around and wind up staying at a nice dark site. For those of you who get out to walk the dog before daybreak October has 4 of the visable planets grouped together in the eastern sky. Jupiter, Mars and Venus will start moving closer and closer together until they form a tight triangle. Then slowly drift apart again as the month progresses. And just before day break Mercury will be its brightest below them close to the horizon. Then after the sun is well down so that it is really dark Saturn, Neptune and Uranus will be in the southwestern sky. Uranus will be at it's brightest for the year about mid month. To top it all off the Orionid meteor shower will peak on the 21st. To see Neptune and Uranus you'll need either binos or a scope. Same for viewing Saturn's rings.

Roger; Glad to see your high and dry. Those storms are not the type of excitement I care to partake in. And very glad your didn't light up like a Christmas tree pulling the electric plug in Charleston. I haven't done much yet today except dump the tanks on the Navion. I also made a trip to town to deposit a couple dividend checks which was a very good excuse to stop at Ihop for a waffle for breakfast. The gal that wants my little trailer just stopped by and gave me $100 to hold the little trailer until she can get off work long enough to go to DMV and transfer it to her name. I'm glad to get it out of my responsibility. Now I don't have to worry about another wind storm picking it up and denting the rig beside it like it did in August. I should have used it to sneak up on Steve an steal the ice cream machine. I forgot about that when I was up in the TX panhandle just a few miles from the OK border.

My niece who lives in Charleston says the city has been having trouble with area flooding for the past 10 days. They are getting ready to evacuate as soon as they know what direction to go. My Great Grand Niece in Columbia says they have been having very heavy rains and they have been letting water out of the Resevoir (Lake Murray) as fast as they can to prepare for the storm. She lives in a developement at the lake but is about 4 blocks from the water on a small hill. I got the bed in the Navion remade with fresh linen this morning and did a bit of cleaning in the Hornet. Then loose fried and refroze 2 lbs of Hamburger. Shucks now I don't have an excuse to eat out. Then got the mess I made doing that cleaned up. Other than go to the office and pay my electric bill, I'm done for the day. Jeri does this storm bring back memories of a couple of years ago. I hope those folks headed for Florida have an inflatable boat and life jackets on hand. Ain't I nasty bringing up that at this time. I'll give them something to worry about.

But don't go during gator breakfast, dinner or supper time. LOL

He is a pretty sneaky guy. Especially with that Ice Cream Machine. I took two hugh bags of laundry in this morning then darn near forgot to go back and pick up the clothing. Luckily I remembered about 5:30 and made a mad dash in to town to get them. If I had not remembered I wouldn't have had sheets for the bed or towel to dry with tonight. Of course I had to eat in town as long as I was already there. Boy was that chicken Alfredo good. I wonder why I'm gaining back all the weight I lost while eating my own cooking. It must be the water. The guy that was supposed to call and come see the little trailer never called. So I told the gal that lives here she could have it. We'll have to go to DMV to get it transfered over to her name. I'll go with her to make sure I've signed everything in the right places. I've taken the trailer back over to storage for now. We are only allowed to keep a second RV at our site for 3 days to get ready for a trip or to unload after a trip. I'm finally getting things back to normal after my trip. I still end up running over to the Navion every time I need something here in the Hornet. I thought I bought all new gear for that but I guess I missed getting a few thing for it. However it is mostly food things I'm running after. When I go off with the Navion I take all the food from the Hornet and also use the Navion for overflow when the frig in the Hornet shrinks while I'm at the store and won't hold all the stuff I buy.

After my walk this morning I took my Blue flame heater apart and gave it a good cleaning. Now it's ready for these chilly mornings. I got my rent paid for another year for the Navion and transfered a few more things back to the Hornet TT. I got the laundry together but it was a little to late to take it to the laundry so that's on schedule for tomorrow. Now I'm bushed and don't care if anything else gets done or not. The guy that was supposed to call about the little trailer hasn't as yet but it's only 12:45. Right now I'm so tired I don't care if he does or don't call.

I got the little trailer ready to show for tomorrow then went to town for lunch and a hair cut. After leaving the place that cut my hair I felt a little light headed. When I looked at the pile of hair on the floor I knew why. Then I came home and started looking for the instructions and the CAT 5 cable to access my wifi repeater. I found them under the dinette. (Right where I put them. LOL) I got the password changed on the second try but the park wifi is so slow I doubt if I'll use it much. By that time it was Happy Hour and in just a few minutes they'll have potluck. Where does the time go?

The moon is just now (10:07) about half way out of the umbra and my rear end is now calused so I came in. The weather here was perfect. Clear as a bell. At 7:07 the moon cleared the top of the mountain to our east just starting into the umbra (dark part of earth's shadow) I watched it continuously until Just now when I came in the rig. Just as it got completely into the umbra it produced a beautiful diamond ring effect then again just as it started to come out of the umbra. While it was in the central part of the umbra it turned more orange than red with a lighter yellowish rim that traveled across the bottom edge of the moon. This was because the moon didn't go through the exact center of the umbra one edge of the moon crossed through the center while the other edge went through just inside of the edge of the umbra. While in the umbral stage all the stars brightened. I could even see the milky way. While it was dark I also saw 7 to 10 meteors (didn't count) several (3 or 4) satellites and one Iridium flare and more airplanes than I care to dicribe. Now it's time for cranberry juice and cheese then beddy bye.

Linda, it wouldn't make any difference if your home had to go in for repair. You would still have the toad to run around in. But if you have a problem with the engine or drive train of the coach you also loose your house while waiting for repairs. Motels get expensive in a hurry.

I took the little trailer out of storage this morning and parked it beside the big trailer to recharge the batteries and sweep the dust out. I've got the frig in the big trailer down to 37 degrees so I can move the food out of the Navion but ran out of steam so will cook dinner in the Navion tonight and move the food over here tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll retry the barber shops and maybe be able to get rid of this bush I'm hiding in. The fellow that wants the little trailer should call Tuesday. I think I'll be ready for him. I want to leave again there is too much work that has to be done around here. I also want to cut another King size sheet in two and re-hem them to make another set of twin sheets for the Navion. Then take a truck load of laundry to the laundry. Both the Navion and the Hornet have full laundry hampers. Then add all the bedding and I might need two trucks full. So far we have clear skies for tonight I hope it stays that way for the Eclipse. My rig is parked in the best place in the park for viewing the Eclipse.

Jeri the eclipse will be almost over by the time the moon rises on the west coast.

Hear is the Time table for the lunar eclipse for Mountain Daylight time. For Pacific and Arizona subtract an hour , for Central add an hour (Later) and 2 hours later for eastern. Enters Penumbral (light shadow no bite out of moon) visable from central texas east) 6:11:47 PM Partial eclipse starts (bite out of moon) (visable from central texas east) 7:07:13 PM FULL eclipse starts (moon completely covered) (moon just rising in NM & AZ) 8:11:12 PM Maximum Eclipse (Rusty red stage center of shadow) 8:47:09 PM FULL ECLIPSE ENDS 9:23:05 PM Partial eclipse ends 10:27:05 PM Penumbral ends 11:22:31 PM LINDA L, if you go out at 3 AM you'll see a pretty (normal) moon its all over. Start looking at 8:11 PM Tonight you'll see the whole thing and it will all end at 1:22 AM. The part where the shadow starts to creep across the moon will start for you at 9:07 PM EDT.

Thanks to Astronomy magazine I get real smart right after I read their articles. LOL I think Diane is still a little puzzled about how I could point to the comet with the lazer then tell her I couldn't see the comet but I should be very close. I knew where it should be in relation to the other stars that I could see. Diane would make a great astronomer with her enthusiasm and intense interest in what is up there in the sky. You too Steve44 with your Oh! Really LOL

We'll I'm back at the grind again. I've been trying to get human again but had a lot of stuff to do getting the trailer livable again. Then I got a bath and clean clothing but still look like a Ubangee because all the barber shops in town were closed today. Mayby I can hide in the bushes until next week. My frig has been on all afternoon and is only down to 52 now at a quarter to eight. The freezer is doing good so maybe I can transfer the food from the other rig tomorrow. It did make a good excuse to take one of the Cowgirls out for pizza at the Forgetaboutit. Roger; You said something about loosing 30K if you traded the beaver in to get another coach. You could cut your losses but you could also start all over again with all the bugs. If it were me I don't think I would go for another class a. Maybe a quality 5ver or TT. But I would want my home and my transportation in 2 different packages. Coaches are inherently expensive to maintain or repair. The initial cost is about the same because you have to figure in the tow vehicle for a trailer but if one breaks down you still have the other with a trailer and truck. And trailers are much less expensive to maintain or repair. PS. you can park by me anytime, I'll put a big gauze mask over the grill of the Navion. LOL I know it's hard to laugh with all you've been through but it's the best medicine.

Oh yeah, there is a total eclipse of the moon Sunday night. This far West it will already be starting the eclipse when the moon comes up right at sundown. The moon is at parigee so it will also be a super moon. (The largest for the year) the moon will be in the earths shadow for about an hour. We should get some nice blood red color out of this one. Folks east of the Texas/New Mexico boarder should see the entire eclipse. The farther east the higher in the sky it will be while in eclipse. Get out there at sundown look east and enjoy. While your at it have a party.

Dang Rodger that repair bug has been chasing you way to long. A neighbor just brought me a couple bottles of root beer and I'm not talking about the soad pop kind. It's 6.8 %. I'll pop the top on one of those to help celebrate the Jeep fix but I'm not going to let you park next to my new rig just incase that all those problems are catching. Governor Steve seems to be plagued with troubles lately. You didn't park next to him did you? I'm just about ready to pull out for Deming in the morning. Every thing is stowed and ready for the road except the power cord. A cup of coffee and a bowl of Cheerios and I'll be gone. A friend of my neighbor wants this site. I told him to be here at 8:30 AM and I'd wait for him to be here and pull out as he pulled in. I've had several people stop and ask me when I'd be leaving so they could get the site. I told them all, "maybe Monday" so I wouldn't have them all here in the morning waiting for me to leave. That little fib might cost me at the pearly gates but with all the other bad thing I've done I doubt it.

If my brain worked that hard it would have to take a Steve for the next three weeks

After that episode I think you're running for Governor of the state of confusion. Gee I wanted that job.

My knee is acting a little better this morning. Maybe I just over did it yesterday and it needed a nice long rest. I hope. However I think I'll still go back to Deming Saturay morning. A whole bunch of my friends have returned there while I was out running around. Plus, I got a call from a guy that is interested in my little trailer. He is going to call again Monday or Tuesday to come take a look at it. So, I'd better make sure it's charged up and ready to be looked at. I've really enjoyed my stay in this park. I can always come back it's only about 70 miles over here coming through Hatch NM. It's a little too warm here in the summer but from fall to early spring it's great. I just have to remember to come on a Monday or Tuesday. You may not get a site any later in the week. It fills every weekend.

I've been Gading with my neighbors most of the afternoon and this evening we went to the little restaurant in Arrey NM about 5 miles down the road. The food is pretty good there but they could use a more extensive menu. Yesterday I did a little more walking than usual. Today every time I sit down my left knee gets stiff and when I try to get up and walk it folds up on me and is very sore until I walk a ways to limber it up then it's OK until I sit down again. I had that knee replaced about 16 or 17 years ago. I hope nothing has broken loose so that I have to replace it again. When I had it done the first time they told me I should get about 10 years out of if. I got my money's worth but hate the idea of having to do that again. I don't remember of doing anything yesterday that would cause it to hurt. With the knee acting up I think I'll head back to Deming Saturday morning where I can get help if needed.