Tornado Warnings

We have tornado warning sirens going off here in Lewisville, TX. I'm here at the hotel and Barb is just down the street at the mall.

UPDATE: The storm went through the area without causing any damage. There was rotation in the clouds but nothing came down.

Lewisville, TX

We left Livingston Saturday morning on our way to Lewisville, TX where we are having our motorhome worked on. We arrived at Buddy Gregg Motorhomes around 3pm and secured a site for the weekend. This morning I turned in a workorder to have the rear brakes shoes replaced, the generator repaired and to have the windshield reset. They had to order a new gasket for the windshield which will be in on Wednesday. Upon the brake inspection, the rear drums will need to be turned and they will have to send them to another shop to do that, so we have to stay in a hotel tonight. The dealership has an account with a nearby Best Western Hotel where we have a suite for $69 a night. Not bad for the Dallas area. Additional repairs on the motorhome include new brakes in the front and the front wheelbearings repacked. They haven't got back to me yet on the repairs on the generator.

Replaced LPG hose

I set out this morning to replace the propane hose from the tank to the regulator. The hose has become stiff over the years and will leak at the fitting if slightly pushing down on the hose. I figured this would be an easy task to do. I first took the old hose off and took it to a propane dealer just down the street from us. They told me with a new change in laws, the couldn't make me up a new hose but referred me to a RV parts shop down the road. I went there and because of the fittings on the hose, they didn't have one and couldn't find one that they could order for me so they referred to another propane shop. I went there and they too could not help me but they referred me to another RV parts store. I went there and they were able to sell me a new hose with an adapter so it would fit.

Repairs scheduled

I checked around the area this morning looking for someone who could do a brake job on the rear axles of the motorhome and find the problem with the generator. No one here in the Livingston area would touch our brakes because they are air brakes. If they were hydraulic brakes, we wouldn't have any problems. I don't want to take it to a truck repair shop here because since we live in the coach, if they have to order parts, we would be treated like another truck and we really don't want to live in muddy parking lot with no place to plug in to keep our freezer going especially since the generator is not running. Two RV shops were willing to work on the generator though. I called Buddy Gregg Motorhomes on the north side of Dallas and they said no problem bring it in. They have a small customer campground at the repair shop with full hookups so we will be leaving here on Saturday for the 250 mile trip north for a Monday morning appointment. From there we will continue up to Norman, Oklahoma for a couple of weeks to visit our daughter and granddaughters before heading north to Lake Michigan.

Livingston, TX

We got an early start this morning leaving out of Morgan City around 7:30 heading to Livingston, TX. Everything was uneventful until we stopped at the first rest stop entering Texas. I tried to start the generator and it wouldn't turnover. Next we stopped at a Flying J truck stop there in Orange, TX and their truck diesel pumps were not working right. I gave up after taking on only 7 gallons. We went across the Interstate from there to a Pilot truck stop and their card reader wouldn't read my credit card. I went in to give them my card so they would turn the pump on but there was a long slow line at the fuel desk so I said the hell with it I'll just get diesel up the road someplace. I still had enough fuel to go another 300 miles or so. We got into the Escapees RV Park in Livingston and got a good site so we could use our satellite TV and Internet. While setting up I heard a ticking noise coming from the generator. It sounded like an electric fuel pump so I pulled out the books and found that there was a fuse under an access plate so I opened that and pulled a fuse. That stopped the ticking noise. Next I setup the satellite dishes. The TV dish tuned in right away but I was unable to get the Internet dish aligned right so I fought with that until I could at least get it within a usable alignment. So much for a good travel day.

Morgan City, LA

We made it to Morgan City, LA today and are staying at the Lake End Park Campground and Marina. This is a city owned park.

Yesterday was a nasty windy day so we stayed around the motorhome where I was able to do a little house cleaning and Barb got the laundry done. A severe storm was forecast to come through last night. It finely got to us around 7:00 this morning. All we had though was a little rain that lasted about an hour.

We left Biloxi a little before 9:00 am and topped off the diesel tank at a truck stop before we got on the Interstate. It started to rain a little again after we go started but we only got some 13 miles down the Interstate before I had to pull off into another truck stop to replace a windshield wiper. After we got back on the road everything was going great until I turned off the Interstate on to US 90 a little too soon and went through the middle of New Orleans. Barb got to see parts of New Orleans that most travellers never see.

As we checked in at the campground Barb asked about crawfish and they told of a little place across the river from Morgan City. After we got setup we headed that way but was too late for lunch so we went back for the evening meal and finely pigged out on crawfish.

Biloxi, MS

We left De Funiak Springs, FL this morning around 9:00 and headed west 177 miles to Biloxi, MS where we are staying at the Martin Lake Resort. As we were coming into Biloxi, Barb spotted a sign advertising crawfish so she asked as we checked in where we could get some. They told us of a place close by where all the local's get them so after we got setup we headed over there. Unfortunately they were already closed for the day so we headed back down the Interstate to find the sign we seen as we were coming in. We found the sign again and it directed us to one of the local casinos. Once we got to the casino, they told us it was only on Friday nights but the told us of another place in Gulfport so we headed to Gulfport via US 90 going through the hurricane ravished areas to Gulfport. We were unfortunate there too because they are closed on Mondays. Well will be leaving Mississippi in a couple of days heading to Morgan City, LA. Hopefully we will find crawfish there.

De Funiak Springs, FL

We left Keaton Beach around 8:30 this morning and made it to the Sunset King Lake Resort in De Funiak Spring, FL just before noon. We'll be here for a couple of days then continue on to Biloxi, MS on Monday.

Keaton Beach, FL

We left our daughter's place in Brandon, FL this morning after spending almost 5 months with her. 202 miles later we arrived at The Old Pavilion RV Park in Keaton Beach, FL where we will spend 2 nights before heading on to DeFuniak Springs, FL. Boy have we got a view here. We have a water front site where we pulled straight into the space and the front on our motorhome is about 10 feet from the Gulf of Mexico. If we had a rocking motion, you would think that we were on the boat.

Departure Date

It's been a long winter and now it's time to go. We'll be leaving our daughter's house here in Brandon, FL on Thursday, March 13th, with our first stop for a couple of days at The Old Pavilion RV Park in Keaton Beach (Perry), FL.