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Ed & Johanne's
Notes from the road

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. That Saturday evening they took us to Texas Opry Jamboree. A dinner and show of good old country music
On Sunday we relaxed, played with their dogsI did a little gardening, Buddy fixed me up with an outdoor router for WiFi and we enjoyed steaks on the grill before departing for the Care Center and back to work..

April 26-27: We were able to get this weekend off by trading our shift with other volunteers. And, with a free weekend we went to Magnolia (suburb of Houston) to visit cousins Buddy and Ann Marie. They are such great people...we enjoy our too short visits with them.

.April - May 15: During our six weeks at Care we were pleased to work with the finest bunch of volunteers, some were old friends from previous years but many were new to Care and all were very committed and industrious. One couple reorganized the library, another the video library. Then there was the group effort to clean/shampoo the dining room carpeting, which required a team effort to remove all tables, chairs and other furniture from the room and returned in the morning before breakfast. All this was done without being asked.
      There was also a number of new residents among the many that we had met in previous years. But, sadly the past year we lost several residents and even more sadly four more passed away after we left. Our prayers and best wishes for their loved ones left behind.
       We were all concerned about Sandy, the assistant to the director. She had been home ill most of our stay at Care, but word is she is doing better now and even went to the Escapade in Gillette, Wyoming.
       Then R.B., the director himself had bypass surgery after we left   We wish him a speedy and thorough recovery.

.May 16th: We left Livingston on our journey towards Albuquerque, NM and time with Grandson Kasen & his family.
The first day we traveled to Waco, TX and stayed at the I-35 RV Park Friday night.

. Once again, on the road but apprehensive. The bucking and choking happens occasionally. We see another Ford dealer and pull in. They will not even look at an RV but suggest we go back to the Waco area to an RV service company.
We turn around and start back. It is getting late in the day now and we head for a COE (Core of Engineers) RV park on a nice lake in Belton, TX for the night.

2008

.May 19: Monday morning and all is well, We start out, get on I-35 to continue our westward trek and the RV is going nicely. About 12 miles down the road, I slow down for a ramp to another highway....and the engine quits....uh ohhhhh. I restart and go forward, meanwhile Johanne (and me too) is getting anxious.
A little bit down the road we see a Ford dealership and we pull in. I go to the service dept and ask if they would be able to check the engine on an RV. Yes. About two hours later, no codes on the computer, a short test drive....no problems $80

         ..................THE FUN BEGINS....................
      Saturday morning we get ready to move on....I started the engine and shortly the engine stopped. Not thinking much of it i restarted and soon we pull out of our parking spot and make it to the end of the driveway and the engine stalled again. OK, a little concerned but I restarted and pulled out onto the road. Well, we started bucking and choking and driving is difficult we decide to turn around and go back to the campground and call for service.   We call our Good Sam Emergency Road Service number and long story short, the road service did not show up until the following morning. He did his tests and says it is a bad fuel filter. He leaves, comes back in half an hour and installs the fuel filter. We do a two mile road test and everything seemed fine. $145.
       This is now late morning on Sunday and we decide we will stay at this RV park one more night and get an early start on Monday morning.

We left the shop in early afternoon and traveled almost 200 miles to San Angelo, TX and except for a couple of small shudders things seemed to be better.
We spent the night on the shore of Lake Nasworthy at a marina and RV park

.May 20 - 22: We left the nice COE park and went to LoneStar RV Sales and Service to see if they could diagnose and repair an unhappy motorhome. SURE, they said.
After 3 days (2 nights) in their parking lot and a number of road tests, and a number of hours poking and prodding the trouble was diagnosed as a faulty control module that was added to the transmission circuit. Removing same and going for a test drive of about 10 miles and all seemed solved $795 ..

.May 23-27: Leaving the lakeshore we traveled almost 300 miles to arrive at "The Ranch", the Escapees first RV park. The RV did stall twice and had the hiccup/ hard shifting problem and we held our breath and hoped nothing happened in this very desolate part of the country.
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