Sunday - the good and the bad

I slept well, ignoring the fact that I'm actually in Eastern time zone since I will be in Central again next week and for the winter. It's too much of a pain to change all the clocks, computer, watches, direcTV, etc. Guess I'm just lazy....LOL!

The sun was shining and it was supposed to warm up to the low 60's....but tonight's forecast is for freezing even here. GULP! Hoping the freezing temps last too short a time to impact me. I will have the heat running and will disconnect from their water faucet. My water tank is under the sofa, right next to the main heat run so it should be fine.

I started off by checking the TV to see if my local channel feeds were working. I had spent almost 30 minutes on the phone with a real nice lady in Utah named Marie while her supervisor turned on the feeds, or so he said. This morning still not working so as soon as BoBo had his walk (and checked out the little ponies stabled behind us), I called again. Got another nice lady, she did "something" and told me to give it 15 minutes. I waited an hour, nothing again. Another call, I'm still being very nice & considerate since I know from the Escapee forums it sometimes takes an act of Congress to get this done. This one wasn't so good....while the lady tried to be patient to me, she didn't know what she was talking about and after several times telling me it would take 11-14 weeks after they received back the paperwork she wanted to snail mail to me....I said thanks and hung up.

Make another cup of coffee and dialed again. Got Paul this time and he listened to my tale of woe, understood immediately what I was trying to do and spent about 10 minutes trying to get it done so he wouldn't have to transfer me to the Mobile Services department. He gave up and with an apology to me for not being able to help, transferred my call. I got Laura, my direcTV angel! Once again I explained what was up in less then 10 minutes she had me working! Now as long as I'm stationary and the DVR is on, my favorite shows will be recorded (got them all set up). Only took four phone calls and over an hour cell usage (the reason I opted to do it over the weekend when my air time is free). Thank you to both Paul and Laura as well as Marie. It was wonderful talking to all three of you.

My old DVR was a Tivo box and the software was like an old shoe, very comfortable and easy to use. The new DVR is not since direcTV and Tivo have parted ways. I find the new software much more cumbersome, some things taking multiple steps to do what took one on the old box. But I'll get used to it....eventually....it's not like I have a choice. LOL! The downside is that the installation is only set up to allow me to record one program. There are a couple of times when I have two shows on at the same time. That took a little thought until I realized that I have both the east and west coast feeds of the major networks. So, one show is scheduled to record from the east coast feed and the other from the west coast. I just have to remember to NOT turn off the DVR when I go to bed.

By now it was warming up nicely outside so I proceeded to open all the bins and do a bit of organizing. I pulled out my Husky Jump-starter unit, dug around till I found my good tire pressure gauge (which will be stored in a handier spot now), checked the air in my tires and just as I suspected the front driver side tire on the Lily Pad was very low as were both trailer tires. Using the instruction book I easily added air to all three tires with the Husky. I love it! Made what could have been an ugly chore...a breeze! Once done, I plugged it into the outside outlet on the RV to recharge the internal battery. EDIT: It looks like Husky has replaced the model I have with this one.

Now the not so good news, while the compressor was inflating the tires, I decided to open up the trailer and see how the motorcycle fared. Not so good....guess the tie-downs weren't done well enough and the back of the motorcycle has shifted to the right at least 6" and one of the tie-downs was loose. I fastened it back down as best as I can, not much else I can do until I get where I have help. Everything will have to be unloaded before I can even attempt to back it out and since it's crooked, I prefer to have help in back it out. One more adventure....not sure if the way it was tied down caused the problem or if my tie-downs are faulty. UGH!! Keep your fingers crossed that the bike wasn't damaged and that I can make it to Elkhart without too much more movement in the trailer (Maybe getting some air in the tires will help? I have no idea...)

The campground is nice and I availed myself of a LONG HOT shower....right now my shower has a ton of "stuff" sitting in it and since I am not hooked up to sewer, figured why not use the facilities. They have a nice laundry room with some fitness equipment, fire rings for all sites, a pool (closed for the season), tons of pull-through sites, little log cabins scattered through out and lots of trees & paths to walk BoBo. Yes, it's pricey and not in my normal budget but there didn't seem to be many campgrounds in this area, especially ones easy to get to with plenty of pull-through sites. So for two nites I've enjoyed it.

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna