Tranny Explanation

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 31, 2024

The morning began as usual but it turned out to be the most exciting few moments of the whole day. The truck was given a good run in every way the OFM could figure out to test it and passed with flying colors. After lunch we went by the shop where it was repaired to thank the folks for the job well done and the perseverance to finally find the trouble and fix it. A conversation with the service writer explained that the solenoid valve module was part of the new transmission and not an outside the transmission part. What they replaced was a new part that came in the re-manufactured tranny that was bad from the factory. So they essentially had to pull part of the new tranny apart and install a whole new chunk of the guts of the tranny. Naturally there was no charge at all to the OFM. But now the truck performs great and we hope it makes it another 150K miles. So we are hoping now that that mess is all over now. So we turned in a rolling date of November 18 to the campground folks. Now we need to concentrate on getting the rig in traveling mode.

Back to the morning walk now. We noticed early in the walk that we could see lots more blue skies through the tree tops than a week ago due to all the leaves having vacated their high lofted residences.

And an old tree that has been there since our first time to walk the trails about 13 years ago has suddenly developed bad cracks in its bark on the trunk and limbs. We think it will die by next spring. It used to give the Teams some nice shade in the summer time.

And this evening we are having mild rain falling for the first time in over a month. So naturally a small leak showed up on the front window frame. If it is dry enough in the morning that leak will be addressed. Always something on an old trailer. We paid $19k for the Castle in July 2005. The closest model Arctic Fox to it now is advertised for the special price of$ 68,900 for a short time. Way out of our price range. Now where is that caulk?

That is all we have tonight so sleep well and dream sweet dreams of RV travels.

Good Night 

Sierra Returns

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 30, 2024

First thing is the OFM damage was mostly healed this morning but we still took it very easy. Except for a few minutes of propping my head while reading some stuff. The OFM was given no doubt that he was doing the wrong thing. So mostly he did well by sitting properly when sitting.

Another big deal is that Sierra came home this evening in great shape. The re-manufactured transmission apparently had a bad valve in it. Now that the valve has been replaced( at no cost to the Teams) Sierra is running excellent. We consider our travel plans ready to be solidified. THAT IS A BIG DEAL TO US.

Now we get to run and play again. Tomorrow starts the real planning for our ramblings to begin. It has been a LONG time coming.

Today we noticed some of the bushes out front of the office were blooming nicely. So with Sierra still in the shop at that moment, we decided to grab a few pics of the bright pinkish flowers. We ended up with two pics that seem nice to us and here they are.

Fresh flowers are getting scarce out in the woods now days.

Sleeping relaxed tonight since Sierra is home is our main plan. Good Night.

Damaged Left Shoulder And Neck Muscles

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 29, 2024

The OFM pulled or something a piece of his body that left him basically not able to do much so tonight is just more rest for us. And no the stupid truck repair place did not call today. See you tomorrow.

Allergies Galore

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 28, 2024

It was a nice day of walking. On the way out of the campground we passed a guard of one of the campsites. He is named Gremlin and warns you to stay away or else.

We tred lightly the rest of the way out of the campground. Then we went by the dumpsters with our trash and deposited it safe from the squirrells near our home. We planned a short walk but it turned into 2.75 miles. Along the way we took a picture of this yakker working his heart out for any fish to bite. We did not see him even get a bite.

Since the OFM had planned on a short walk we did not carry water. A gentle error it was but we did stop at the first rest room in the camping area for a necessity stop and a drink of water. Then right outside the door was this single pretty flower begging us to take its picture. So naturally we did take its picture.

Just about the whole day from that point was spent waiting on a call that Sierra was ready, as usual It did not come. I guess we will see what happens tomorrow.

The OFM is having a fierce attack of allergic reactions to the air borne irritants. Many other folks are also having fits with the airborne junk.

Guiding A Motorhome Into A New Site

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 27, 2024

We started out the morning with a light fever living in the OFM. We think it is because there is no relief from the allergy symptoms. Any way it ebbed and came back during the day. We gave it a run for the money with a long nap in the late morning. It has not gotten worse or better so we guess we have broke even for the day.

The Neighborhood Walmart near by has been remodeling for several months and today enough remodeling has been going on that we could tell what is happening. This area of Decatur is the main area for the Spanish speaking folks that work in the barge channel facilities along the Tennessee river. From what I have experienced they are generally some really good folks.

I was told by a store employee that the store is being rearranged to have items grouped like a Hispanic store would be. It is looking good and many new items are in stock that we saw only down along the Rio Grande river in Texas. And that is a good thing in our opinion. What got me today is the aisle signs and item labels were mostly Spanish and the OFM Spanish leaves a lot to be desired. An employee told me the English signs did not arrive yet but will be installed soon after arrival. The really good side of this change is down in south Texas we could get lots of great Mexican food that is not sold in most of the country by Walmart. Soon we will be getting the best food of both cultures. This will show how nice the Spanish speaking folks were to us this morning.

More than once we were standing in an aisle staring at the shelves and a spanish speaking person would stop to help us find what we were looking for. That was really nice of them. We are hoping that we will soon have the best of both cultures to enjoy. That sure sounds good to us.

Back at the campground we helped our neighbor back his large motor home into his new site near us. He is a good driver and the OFM apparently did a good job of arm waving and swatting flies too. Anyway it went very well.

Now tonight we hope to get a grand night of sleep and rest accomplished. Have fun and good night.

 

A Smoker Grill In The Dumpster

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 26, 2024

We started out on the usual walk to the dumpsters with the daily trash. But when we got to the dumpsters we noticed that there was a lot of household trash in them. In the dumpster we used was a 6 foot long smoker grill. Here is a picture of it in the dumpster.

There was also several drawer sets, a couple of bikes and some house furniture. Some body was lightening their load it seems from all the stuff in there. The dumpster next to it was also topped out with household things sticking out from the top of the dumpster. That smoker was the largest thing we have seen in a campground dumpster ever.

When we finished the pleasant walk we decided to do a caulk check of the Castle. Sure enough there was three short spots of cracked caulk that needed repair. So each one was scraped relatively clean and refilled and finished off. The Castle is a 2005 model so caulk checking is a very important part of the maintenance effort. Otherwise the Castle could just fall apart going down the road.

Since we were already in work mode we blew the leaves off the rv pad so we will not track them into the Castle as easily. That is a frequently needed bit of work.

The sky this evening was incredible. The blues of the sky as the evening was waning were special to see. We did manage to get a good picture of the sky over the soccer field.

That is it for tonight. Have some fun and sleep well. Good night.

Tree Leaves

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 25, 2024

We started out on the usual walk to the dumpsters with the daily trash. But when we got to the dumpsters we noticed that all the construction equipment on down that direction was gone and the trail open. So once the trash was inside the dumpster we turned west instead of south to see what had been going on. Apparently this is major tree clean out year. All over the Point Mallard park area the trees and underbrush are getting thinned out and taken away. It is looking good for next summer with more breeze going through the woods on each side of the trails.

So we walked on the road around the golf course to check things out. We like what we saw. They took out a lot of trees that were leaning badly or were too crowded to grow well.

It also opened the woods enough for us to get a couple of pictures of trees with bright colored trees. There are not a lot of them but the zoom on the camera can reach a good ways.

Here is a couple of them. The first one is a scrubby stunted tree next to the maintenance road. It was a nice red.

Then back over yonder a ways was this large tree with some color showing way up there where the sky made a nice background for the leaves. This area of the country is not conducive of lots of leaf color but we appreciate what we do get.

After we got to our turnback point we got some nice views of some more work they are doing on the golf course. We will grab pics of those improvements after the equipment finishes the job.

Some good news is we walked a total of 2.75 miles with the water jug on the separate belt and the OFM had no hip pains. So it seems that trying to carry the water bottle in the leg pocket of our pants was a bad idea. Oh well the OFM likes to keep on experimenting on things. He thinks it helps keep his mind sharper.

This afternoon we noticed that our solar panels were not charging as well as they should be so it was time to climb a ladder and check them out before we need them boondocking out west in a couple of weeks.

So our ladder was set next to the Castle so we could balance against it while on the ladder. Sure enough the panels had a layer of leaves over the charging panel. When we swept that away a light layer of dirt was removed from the panel also. The panels seldom need cleaning when we move frequently. The wind from going down the highway blows nearly all the junk off on the occasional rain washes them clean most of the time. But sitting here for a year and a half let them accumulate tooooo much debris from all the trees over us. They are under testing to make sure we have it under control.

So we are still doing things to make sure we get to roll next month. Have a great night folks. Good Night.

Halloween Band

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 24, 2024

The truck part came in today and we are due to be at the shop first thing Monday for a one day installation that will hopefully get Sierra back into first class shape to roll west. If Sierra really is fixed this time we will be really happy.

During the nice walk this morning we tried to capture fall colors in the area but they are so faint that they all came out extremely dull looking. So we have only this picture of the band practicing for the Halloween festivities.

 They are pretty good for a bunch of old folks. They were busy so we just kept on walking. This mornings ache was an old man nerve pain in his left hip side. Our left hip has been hurting for about two weeks. This morning when the OFM pulled his water bottle out of his left hip pocket, took a small swallow and then continued walking we got surprised when in about a hundred feet the hip pain suddenly quit. Water bottle back in pocket and pain immediately came back. OK, back to using a belt and a belt mounted bottle carrier like we did for years. May be that minor switch a couple of weeks ago caused the hip pain. We shall see in the next couple of days.

Notice the header picture of the slough near the start of the walking trails. Looks like a nice place in the spring and summer. Well here is what it looks like in the fall and winter.

Sure is a lot prettier in the spring summer isn't it.

Hope every one has a great day tomorrow. Good Night.

Exciting And Fun Day

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 23, 2024

At first feeling of the morning air the OFM thought it was cool enough to put on a long sleeve tee shirt to keep us comfortable. And he was correct for about ten minutes. Then when we turned at the dumpsters to head toward the hike and bike trail the OFM made a point os seeking the shady parts of the path.

We have no idea what caused it but shortly after the picture above was taken, the OFM started having an ugly feeling and we cut the walk down for this morning. When we got back the OFM was doing fine but it was a nervous 20-25 minutes there. At least we got in a mile and a half. The OFM did a bit of bed rest and soon was doing well the rest of the day.

We decided that the little event on the walk was enough to take it easy for a while more so we took on the laundry that needed to be done. We have a very nice coin laundry up next to the office and it is a short walk from the Castle. So we grabbed the laundry stuff and went up to get busy. Here was the scene when we opened the door.

We had our choice of any machine and we got busy. The timing was great. Nobody else came in for almost twenty minutes. That gave us a nice head start on the machines.

The neatest thing is there is a good sized bunch of new or fairly new Rving folks camped here for the week. And the next few folks that came in the laundry were all excited about their new great thing RV CAMPING. In a couple of minutes it was found out that the OFM has been RV camping since 1972. Oh boy the conversations went wild then. It was a very nice way to spend your waiting time in a public laundry room.

Then when we brought our laundry bag home and started putting it all away we found out we had two bath towels we do not recall having before today. A pretty blue one and a bright white one. All our bath towels are bright orange we thought.

As if that was not good enough, when finding room for the new bath towels we stumbled across two unopened bags of 6 tee shirts each stuck in a back corner of the hanging closet in the bathroom. Now we have enough tee shirts to live about a hundred years without buying any more.

As supper preparation time closed in on us the OFM started perusing the contents of our food lockers so to speak. And we found makings for some new stoup. The Knorr Mexican rice package fell into our hands. Then our eyes noticed the can of pinto beans in the back corner next to an older can of whole kernel corn. Well well and then the OFM remembered the new BBQ sauce we bought a few days ago to try out. OK Fat boy get busy and he did. Some chopped fresh white onions were added to the mix and in 45 minutes we were eating a great supper AND ended up with five meals of good food left that went into the freezer for future good meals.

WOW O WOW This certainly turned out to be a great day after the interesting start.

Tomorrow we are going to attempt to take the trying to have too much fun up another notch or three. Good Night.

Just A New Egret Picture

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 22, 2024

We did not get out early this morning but it was a morning walk for the OFM. We took several pictures of an egret fishing but this one was the best. That was an extra cautious egret that could tell right when to move to mess up a photo.

We did not see the egret get a minnow even in several try's.

Back in the campground it was a good day of visiting folks both long term campers and folks passing through. And we did learn about several popular places to go “camping” this side of the Mississippi river. Of course eating at very expensive locations was the reason for going to see the place.

Yep we are still waiting on notice the truck part is in and ready for installation. It will be nice when that tranny is repaired fully.

And the important event was setting our leaving date and clearing it with the campground folks. It will be November 18 unless more bad luck bites us. That's it from our end. Have a great night.

Neighbor Moved Away

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 21, 2024

A really nice morning that needed a light top for warmth at first but finished the walk carrying it on my arm. Just a beautiful day of walking. Here are a couple of pictures from the path.

The first is a meadow used for staging events that need space. We took the picture from the path right along Flint Creek from the hike and bike trail. It was a really nice view in the morning sunlight.

We kept on walking and really enjoyed it for the whole nearly three miles. Sure enough we got another interesting shot of the slough coming from Flint Creek. The authorities have lowered the water level a couple feet more and caused this reflection that the OFM had trouble getting it figured out exactly what he was looking at but it sure was nice.

A neighbor bought a house recently so they could hold all their grand kids for overnight adventures. The kids were too many to fit in their rather large rig, so they chose to go back into normal housing. This evening they rolled the trailer out for the new house location. They told me that it would be on the market soon as they get it cleaned out. It will likely be a very good rig for someone from what we have seen about them and the great care all their stuff gets.

And that is all from this peaceful location in Alabama. Good Night. 

Lot Of Visiting

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 20, 2024

We got going reasonably early this morning and made a loop through the campground to the dumpsters and out the back gate of the campground down along the water and back up to the Castle in the campground. 2.5 miles of good walking turned out to be the distance. That is good enough for this OFM.

Along the trail two snakes were spotted. The creek is way down and the water snakes have lost their normal living rooms. One was about nine inches long scurrying across the path. The next one was about two feet long and .75 inches diameter. A very non-aggressive by its actions snake. A woman passing by was ready to try to kill it but the OFM interfered. The snake was not acting bad just wanting to cross the trail. These snakes eat too many bad bugs and bad rodents to be killing them just for crossing a trail. Any way the snake got to live another day and posed for this picture. Its head is on the leaf on far left.

This evening we went to put more trash in the dumpsters. That ten minute one way walk turned into over two hours of visiting with newly arriving campers. It was great hearing the great stories these folks had to tell. And we picked up some more blog readers.

You might say it was a wonderful day. Good night every one. 

Delicate Clouds

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 19, 2024

We got going reasonably early this morning and made a loop through the campground to the dumpsters and out the back gate of the campground. The first thing we noticed was how pretty the sky was. Then we noticed the wispy nature of the light clouds in the sky.

As we meandered our way along the graveled trail we ran into a couple we know from walking here for years. He is 84 and she is 83 and they will walk your legs off at a very brisk pace. So we walked along for a while and a nice fellow they know came up the trail and paused for a visit. Soon the older couple went on their way and the fellow and the OFM talked about RV travel subjects for about twenty minutes. The OFM blog address was given to him and he got all excited about meeting a long time RVer especially getting info from an RVer who started in 1972. Finally we split up and the OFM went on along the trail and completed his walk in good shape. This sort of thing happens about three times a week here in this park and the OFM loves it.

We did a bit more cleaning and some getting rid of effort as we gently move to our planned rolling date of November 18.

A nice half hour nap late in the afternoon was wonderful. Another good point about RV traveling is you can easily take an after lunch short nap in your RV to more easily keep the old body feeling fresher and alert while driving. The OFM aims at a maximum 300 mile day which normally translates into a six hour travel time per day. We looked at our situation carefully again today and everything looks like we will finally get to roll. The first two days is I-67 south and right onto I- 20 to near Morton Ms. For the first boon dock night and then just inside Texas for the next night. After that we are free to roam wherever we get the urge.

WOW THAT SOUNDS GREAT TO US.

Sierra Returns For A Few Days

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD CAMPGROUND

OCTOBER 18, 2024

Today was all about getting Sierra back for a few days. Sierra was supposed to be gone one over night. Last night was night 2 and we did not hear from the dealer this morning. So we called and left messages we need to know what the schedule is since we are about out of food in the Castle.

After a few hours of no replies we pushed a bit harder with the messages we left on the phone. Finally around noon we finally talked with the service writer and found out a bit. Sierra is getting a new solenoid that is on order and will likely show up next week they hope. So we requested the Castle back so we could get out and around town to take care of things like eating and grocery shopping.

The person who does the pick ups and take backs would be right over to pick us up in twenty minutes. An hour later he had not shown up. We called again and was told he went to lunch and the OFM was next on his list. About a half hour later he showed up. His story did not agree with what the OFM was told but now the OFM was ready for the stupidness he expected to encounter at the shop. Surprisingly it went really smooth and we rolled out with Sierra reasonably quickly. Sometime next week when the new solenoid arrives we will be taking Sierra back for that installation. We shall see what good that does. Sierra is definitely not running right but is still getting us to where we need to be in time. This dealer is Lynn Layton Chevrolet in Decatur Alabama.

Anyway the waiting time was spent doing house cleaning that needed doing and preparing the Castle for our planned and hopeful November 18 rolling west on I-20.

Try to have some fun for us OK.

Too Much Excitement

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 17, 2024

The morning was very brisk. But the sunshine was wonderful. The illness the OFM had turned out to be some diarrhea caused by bad food the day before. About 1400 that all cleared out and the OFM has been fine since.

Since we have no transportation and cannot get a return phone call to find out what is going on with Sierra, today was a piddle around day with several short mile length walks wondering what to do next. At least the OFM is not sickly any more. Hopefully tomorrow will have better news to report. After two days we are not expecting the shop to know exactly when they will finish but at least let me know some idea of time frame of the situation. Like we will be at least two more days or tomorrow afternoon or whatever. Is that more than I should ask for?

Just to break up the excitement we got a call about a credit card we have being involved in a big scam someone is running involving Walmart Internet Shopping. Sure enough we were involved in the card numbers being illegally used. The good news is Walmart and some other folks caught it about two weeks ago and have shut it down. Now the OFM card is already shut down and another one on the way to us. This only involved Walmart shopping by mail delivery. We never do that so it was easy to be spotted. Supposedly the scammed money will be credited back to us within a month. The OFM is wondering how they got his card number since the card never leaves his possession. Watch out folks the crooks are getting sneakier by the month.

Thank heavens that is all the excitement for today.

Have a great day.

Sickly OFM

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 16, 2024

The morning was very brisk so the OFM was clothed for fairly cold weather and he needed it for taking Sierra to the dealer for them to figure out why it shifts so badly so frequently. They have it for at least tonight. We will see the situation some time tomorrow. In the mean time the OFM has a mild fever and upset stomach. Frequent short naps and then move around a bit seems to be the trick to getting by.

That is about it for tonight. Everyone have some fun for us. Goodnight.

Point Mallard Reality

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 15, 2024

The morning was very brisk so the OFM was clothed for fairly cold weather and he needed it for the first half of the walk. But mornings around here warm up very fast once they start to warm up.

These were the cold looking clouds we first had when the walk started and we needed all the clothing we had on. About thirty minutes later when we got to the turning point it was a good bit warmer. By the time we got back inside the campground the OFM was wanting to be back in a tee shirt and shorts to cool off. Yep in this area almost year round plan on two sets of clothing. A daylight set and an evening set. The temps range a significant bit.

Now we need to bust another bubble. Apparently the OFM needs to clarify the happy camping ground bubble we seem to have painted in some minds. This is a nicer than many places around the country. And it is not cheap but in the middle range. We pay $580 a month for our site that includes the site and all utilities. The campground is a bit rustic but very functional and pleasant. Next is a picture to show the snugness of the sites to each other.

The grass area to the right is a utility easement that the rest of the sites in the campground do not have available for using. The other sites have another row of rvs right across the one way street from them just like the one you see to the left in this picture.

So you can see there is not a lot of room between sites to spread out. All the trails we write about are outside the campground in the rest of the park and golf course properties. As you can see this is not the place to go to “get away from it all” if that is what you are hoping for. There is a little over 200 campsites inside the campground. A good feature is the campground is city owned, patrolled by city police and only 4 miles to the little Walmart and the local hospital if you need either of them.

If you make trouble you get one reasonably nice warning. The second time your warning will be from the police officer escorting you from the campground.

We hope this presents a clearer picture of what it is like here. If you want more details go to Point Mallard Campground on the Internet. We like it enough to have been coming back here for 13 years each summer. Now get out there and try to have tooooo much fun.

Golf Course Visit

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 14, 2024

The morning was very brisk and the OFM wished for more top clothing but by the time we finished the walk he was glad to have only what he was wearing. The bright clear air was pretty darn good. After the walk we went to work on golf stuff. A session at the driving range was needed so we hot footed it over to the range.

The OFM pounded a few balls all over the range while making some decisions. The main decision was that the clubs we had access to are too light for the OFM Team. So now we have a basis for making more choices. The OFM was really excited to find out he still had enough muscles to hit the ball decently. After the fact finding effort was finished he wandered over to take a picture of Hole 18 which is the finishing hole right at the club house back porch.

Hole 18

Later we took the borrowed clubs back to the owner and visited a long time with them.

All in all it has been a very nice day.

Sprinkling Can

 

ADVENTURE LOCATION:

DECATUR, ALABAMA

POINT MALLARD PARK

DATE: OCTOBER 13, 2024

All the pics during the nice walk today came out bad like the OFM was wiggling horribly. So they all got thrown away.

That leaves us with the latest coloring named Sprinkling Can.

It is a coloring where we unsuccessfully tried some water color painting under colored pencil. The effect was not good and had to be removed. But a later try turned out well. We are guessing at this point we need to read more and do some serious practice using that technique.

And finally we did some more research into doing some more golfing again to give us a choice of excitement in our life. Over all it was just an easy going day for the OFM Teams.