|
|
|
Full-time RV travels in the United States and Canada
Save on camping without a membership with Camp Half Price
|
May, 2005 April faded into history and May began. Our park opened on May 6th and we were there. This was our first stay at Branton Cundick, near Sombra. We had booked site 10 which looks out on the St. Clair River, but we didn't get that site because we are not what they call "transients". We are here for the summer. They re-assigned us to site 23. We were backed in on the back row of the park, but we could still catch glimpses of the river and the big freighters floating by. We had a problem though. All the trees were blocking the satellite signal. It could be a long, hot summer, if the problem isn't solved. We shuffled the coach back and forth, nothing worked. We pulled the portable dish and tripod out and assembled it. We gathered up all the coax we had and took the dish to the back of our site, next to the farmers field. We finally found the signal, but now we had to do something with the coax, as the staff would be running over it with the lawnmowers. We borrowed a shovel from them and slid the coax under the sod. The coax was only exposed where we had taped it onto the one leg of the tripod. After several days of trying to solve the problem, Doug was now a happy camper. But, not for long. Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers of the World. It was a large gathering for breakfast/brunch today. The Moose Lodge in Chatham has a breakfast on Sundays, that is open to the public. Doug's sister Marg, brother-in-law Gord, their daughter Debbie and her family, our son Jody and our daughter-in-law Rachael, Doug and I, all had and excellent breakfast. I also had the opportunity to have a chat with Robin. She was my co-worker many years ago, when we both worked at The Wheels, Best Western, in Chatham. After breakfast Doug and I went to Blenheim and put flowers on his parents grave. Then we went to visit friends that don't get out to often. We had brought Jack and Fran a couple of souvenirs from Florida. We had a nice visit with them, then went back to the river for the rest of the day. Monday, May 9th, we went into Chatham and I stopped by my old place of employment to say Hi. Both of my employers wanted me to do some work for them. I worked part-time for both of them before retirement. I worked about 35 hours a week for Gerry and 15 to 25 hours a week for Henny. Having both employers in the same building made it very convenient for me. I drove all over the Municipality of Chatham-Kent for Henny and when I had that work done every day, then I would start my second job for Gerry. I was very lucky to have such flexible hours. I usually started my days work for Gerry, around 10 or 11 a.m., and finished at 5. I very seldom worked in the evenings, but some mornings were very early for Henny's work. I enjoyed the early morning tours around the county. Gerry wanted me to work a week a month, for a few months, to help my replacement gain a better insight into the position. He had trained for a month before I left, but there is a lot to learn in the position. I had went to school for the legal part of the position, but my replacement hadn't. Henny wanted me to help her catch up in some bookkeeping. She said that I could do it at home. Sounded like a plan to me. We have been looking for a replacement fender for the one we had lost when the tire blew. We finally contacted Fleetwood and they gave us the number of a dealer in Michigan. We called them, they ordered the fender for us. On May 10th we went to Auburn Hills and took delivery. Close to $500.00 US$ later we had our fender. We could have purchased the two tires for just a few more $ and saved the $'s it took to replace the fender. Hind sight is a great teacher, but an expensive one.
Our satellite signal was slowly dropping. At times we had no signal at all. What was going on. We found out what was happening, when we examined the coax cable closely, where it was exposed along the leg of the tripod. The cable was developing fish scales. Apparently every time the girls trimmed around the tripod, the string on the trimmer was shredding the outside casing of the coax. We had about one and a half feet of black casing that looked like fish scales. We could have replaced the cable, but the same thing would happen again. We had another problem-water. Somewhere, underground, between us and our neighbor, there was a pipe leaking water. The ground was becoming quite spongy between the two sites. We needed rubber boots to wear, when we emptied the holding tanks. We rode our bikes around the park several times, checking out vacant, seasonal sites. There wasn't many to chose from, but we thought that 44 might be okay. I took the compass and lined up with the north- south. It looks like we will get a clear shot at the southern sky, there was a fairly wide opening in the trees. We went to the office and received the okay to move. We were so close to the other site, that we rode the bikes down, left them and walked back. I also carried the two lawn chairs down and a couple other items. Doug fired up the coach and we were moved to the new location in less then 15 minutes. Up went the satellite dish. After a couple of minutes fine tuning it, we had a very good signal. All was well with our little world again. Every day I try to take a walk. I hadn't been doing a great deal of walking lately, so I had to build myself up to it again. Every day I walk further. Other seasonal residences are moving in, so I am also getting to know them. Rose and Joan go for a walk every morning and they have asked me to join them. They have both been coming to this park for many years. Joan and Dean are very long time seasonals. Fred and Rose have been at this park for about five years. Every day Rose and Joan walk into Sombra. The round trip is close to five kilometers (approx. 3.5 miles) I really enjoy their company and the miles just fly by, when you have someone to talk to. We walk six days a week. I can feel my legs getting stronger. The steps up into the coach are getting much easier to climb. We walk down the side road to St. Clair Parkway, which is the road right along the river, then along St. Clair Parkway into Sombra and back. We always see something different every morning. Sometimes swans, or ducks, or a large freighter heading either up or down river. Great stuff. I will have to get some photos. The rest of our day was used to restore the fender back on the coach. We are lucky that Doug was able to paint the fender and install it back on the coach. It looks as good as new. The bookkeeping is taking up a great deal of my time. I had to set up a spreadsheet in Lotus and list all of the items. At the beginning, I was trying to break it down into too many details. Soon I had narrowed it down enough to be workable. It is a huge project, and will be very time consuming. May 24th was check-up day for me at my dentist. I have been going to him since 1979. Dr. Johnson takes very good care of my teeth. We both want me to keep them as long as possible. Thanks Dr. Johnson for all of your great work. I will be back in June for my crown. Doug and all of the International Truck and Engine (Chatham) plant retirees has excellent medical and dental benefits. We are very fortunate. We have had rain, and strong winds the last half of this week. Warmer weather should be here soon. Another month has gone by. Time flies when you are having fun.
   |
