The 2006 Travels of Richard n Shirley

Our pantry has metal slides on one side and the top slide has wore out. By that I mean it no longer stays in the slide but is now coming out sideways vs sliding out like it should. The slides are heavy drawer type. We calloed Fleetwood and they do not stock the slide any longer as it is available at Lowes and Home Depot. WRONG! The top slide or the slide mounted in the middle of the pantry has a lock and release lever. The slides at the store's do not. So we had to improvise a lock.

The first pic is of the back side of the pantry front showing a brass plate. This plate hides the hole for the locking rod and will take the side force when we turn the rv. The last pic shows the type lock we bought that is mounted on the face of the wall above the door. Anything else that was available was not workable.

The slides are 100# rated drawer slides x 22" long. The holes in the new slides did not match the old slides so we did some drilling. Once we got the slides de-burred, it was time to screw them in place. We spent four LONG hours working on this. I know it took two hours to get the screws screwed into the wood to hold the slides. After all was done, the pantry fit like new. Slides out perfectly. Just wish we had the right slides with
lock from Fleetwood. But we don't.

DW says this is the last on our fixit list. She said there will probably be more next week.

Now we will check our solar battery water and get the "house" ready to roll monday. We do have a stop to get the emergency brake fixed and then our state inspection.

Once this is done, we're off!!!!! Last time we were on the road was Oct 2, 05.

We are parked in space 9 which is a pull thru. There are not many but a few of them And when you come here, get space 1 or 2 as they are full hookups. these were the old camp host spots. They phone lines dont work but you got a sewer connection. We were here before we went to get the body repair and DW washed the clothes. We paid $2.00 for the sewer connection, two days, and saved $5.50 by doing our own laundry. The space 1 is shorter than 2. A 40 ft DP is in it now. A long 5th wheel is in 2.

We spent this am cleaning the inside of the RV. We had 17 days of fiberglass dust and a West Texas dust storm to clean up. When Johnsons Fiberglass Boat Repair finished with us, we got a hand washing. We did shine! Took 20 minitues down the wet road to fix that. Now it needs a new wash.

We failed our state inspection because our emergency brake did not hold the coach when in drive. I had this adjusted at the Ford dealership last Oct 25, 2005 which was 233 miles ago. We will be at their front door monday am to get this fixed and an inspection sticker. We went to Southwest Ford in Weatherford, TX and we will let you know the resuts of this later.

In the mean time, we will be going down US180 to Hobbs, NM. The driver has not driven in seven months and all are forwarned to be carefull. Its our time to travel. At $3.00 per gallon, just how far can you go on that.

And finally, the left rear, drivers, of the RV fixed and painted. It shines like a new one. The cost to fix this side was $4296.06 including my deductable. The insurance paid for this less my deductable. The total time required was 17 days with NO hookups. We had 20 amp power, no dump and no water. There was a septic tank there which we did dump into after we had been there nine days. We hauled in water at 5-one gallon jugs at a time, every day except for the four days we spent in the motel. We paid $105 plus change for each pair of the two days.

After all of this, my suggestion is to NOT BACK UP!
It is much to expensive.

This is the right rear, passanger side, after the fix and painting. If you look real close there is a strip of white that was painted after the pics were taken. Other than that, the RV looks very nice and nearly like new. This side cost $3682.25 including my deductable. All paid for by the insurance company less my deductable.

Here is the front after the fix and paint. Its really nice looks like new. This came with the coach and was out of our pocket. It was a $1200.00 fix.

Here is our room at the Microtel Inn and Suites. Its a fairly basic room with no frills, coffee maker, hair dryer, etc. Its a very reasonable $52.50 per night with taxes. We spent two nights last week here, friday thru sunday night in the RV and now last night and tonight. The Rv will be ready wednesday. The cat will be ready wednesday too. We will then begin our way to NM. We have to be there on May 2 for a house closing.
We ill take our time and see the sights headed west. Our budget for gas is $3.00 per gallon for April and May. This always us to travel 450 miles per month. Its about that to far Lovington, NM.

Dont you just like the pics our camera takes! This was without a flash.

I will take pics of the "new" RV when we get it back.

We will go back to the hotel monday morning about noon. The guy working on the RV will be here at 8:30 and will drive the RV back inside and paint the front and back. This will take two days and we should be get our RV back sometime tuesday afternoon. We will have to check out of the hotel at noon on tuesday.

Once get the RV, we will make a stop at the lake again for inhouse and outside clean up and fill the water tank and dump the tanks when we leave. We have a house closing in NM sometime soon and our trip there time wise will depend on the closing. The tires are checked, oil checked and genset oil change. Car washed and ready to go, check the oil in the am. Wash the RV and clean the inside and off we go. Pictures of the finished job to follow later.

Now if gas were only cheaper. Oh well, thats life.