We spent the rest of the day relaxing. Mark and his friend Bill arrived around 5:00 p.m. Bill is a senior at Webster College and was the person who made a short film about Mark's life with Aids. He is a very interesting person to talk to and we enjoyed our visit with him also. Vic's brother Frank and his wife Rita also came for dinner. Melissa made the traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. As usual, she out did herself. After feeling like a stuffed turkey, we headed home.
A couple of days later, we noticed that we couldn't get the front and side curtains to go up. Then we realized that we didn't have any heat. (Yikes!) We still had hot water for our showers though (hooray!). Then Larry went to dump our grey tank and realized that it wouldn't work either. We tried to dump the tanks manually but couldn't get the screw to turn. Then the door to that compartment wouldn't latch so we duct taped that shut. All of these things work off the house batteries. So, Larry checked the batteries and found them to be dead. So we called Howard RV and they said that they would slide us into their schedule. In the mean time, it was a cold walk (32 degrees) over to the RV park's showers. Are we having fun yet? When we left to go to Howard RV, Larry went to put the electrical cord and the sewer hose away but it wouldn't work either. He had to coil everything up by hand and stuff it into the bay and slam the door shut. After getting all 8 batteries replaced, we headed back to the RV Park. After we got home we discovered that things were still not working. This is on a Friday before New Years so we said the heck with it and went to meet Vic and Melissa for dinner. We met at the Glass Olive where Rachel had just gotten a waitress job while she was home for Christmas break. The place is very unique. It has a very long curved bar with seating and then several tables set up. They have wines, beer, other alcohol and of course many different kinds of martinis. The place was packed and we had to wait for a table. Rachel was able to be our waitress and recommended some food items to us. The entertainment was great. The guy singing sounded like Frank Sinatra. We enjoyed the whole evening.
On Monday, New Years Eve day, we called Howard RV again and they said to bring it in right away. We left the RV there and went to do our laundry and go to lunch. When we got back they were all done. There was a loose wire behind the fuse box and that was creating all the problems. Thank you Howard RV. We are now good to go. We rushed back to the RV park and got ready to go the Adams Mark Hotel for a New Years Eve celebration with Vic, Melissa, Frank and Rita. It was 17 degrees outside and my mink coat kept me warm and toastie. I don't care what animal activists say, a fur coat is mandatory in freezing weather.
The hotel was beautiful and it was my first time inside the hotel. We had drinks and then went into this big room. We had hearty appetizers, desserts and drinks available to us all night long. They had two bands that we danced to all night. My feet were killing me but it was worth it.
New Years day we drove over to Vic and Melissa's. We all had our Missouri University shirts on for the big game. It was fun watching the game together and rooting our team to victory. We were very happy. We ordered pizza and then said our sad good byes. We had spent about 3 weeks in St. Louis visiting Melissa and family and Mark. We don't get to see them very often and it was so nice to spend that time with them. We will see them again in May for Sara's high school graduation.
The whole time we were in St. Louis, we kept a close eye on the weather. If it was going to rain and be in the 30s, we would bring our slide outs in. We didn't want to go through the deicing thing again. It was small and cozy but we survived. The night of the 1st it got down to 8 degrees. We had the house heater and two portable heaters going all night. Early in the morning we heard a loud noise. We thought it was our neighbor slamming his door.
On January 2 (our 14th anniversary) we prepared to head for Joplin, MO. When Larry went to put the electrical cord away he discovered what the loud noise had been. Our two water filters had frozen and exploded. On our way to Joplin we found a brand new CampingWorld store and replaced our filters. We couldn't put them on yet because they were still frozen in place. We had to get to warmer weather.
In Joplin we took the RV to Cummins and had the engine and generator serviced for our trip to Mexico. They found a leak in the radiator. We had been holding our breath about this since we had heard that many other Alpine owners had also had this same problem. Apparently, WRV has switched radiator manufacturers. We called Chris at WRV and asked him to send us a radiator ASAP. He said he would send it to Rockwall, TX just east of Dallas and that this RV repair place had done one before. Off to Rockwall, TX.
It took a week for the radiator to arrive. During that week we were able to stock up the food and supplies for our Mexico trip. We went to see two movies; P.S. I Love You and Bucket List. Both excellent movies. We also took a day trip into Dallas to visit the Book Depository Museum. We each had our own headset with narration as we went through the museum. Outstanding display of pictures showing the assassination of John Kennedy. It was eerie being at the exact location where Oswald stood when he shot Kennedy. The museum was very interesting and we recommend it to fellow travelers.
We took the RV over to Walkabout RV dealer on Monday, January 14 and left it there. The radiator was supposed to be delivered that day. We had to go to the bank and get Larry a bathing suit. After running our errands we checked into a motel for the evening.
Today, our RV is supposed to be done at 1:00 p.m. We are so excited because we have to be in Fort Davis, TX tomorrow to meet our friends. Then on to Presidio on Friday. Let's hope the RV can be good for six weeks.
There won't be a blog until we get back into the US in the first part of March.
Happy New Year to everyone.
1 comment:
You often hear of parents that are accused of living vicariously through their children. In this case I feel like I'm living vicariously through my parents! Glad to hear you had such a great time on the eastern leg of your voyage and I keep crossing my fingers with each new repair you tell us about that it's your last for some time to come.
Love you both!
Rick and family
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