Thursday, July 19, 2018 - Morning Walk, Birthday Trip with Granddaughter; Jaxson has a Bicycle; Disc Brakes & Shackles

Thursday, July 19, 2018 - Morning Walk, Birthday Trip with Granddaughter; Jaxson has a Bicycle; Disc Brakes & Shackles

Cindy and I met in the park again this morning at 6, and walked slightly over 1.75 miles.  We shortened our time by about 30 seconds per mile from yesterday.  It was already over 70 and very humid.  I'll be doing a lot more walking today, so I'm sure I'll get plenty of steps before the day is over.

It was very foggy this morning.  Here's a picture I took near the overlook.

The fog was really thick this morning.

I arrived first this morning and while I was waiting on Cindy I noticed this white cat in the park.  I've never seen it here before.  It seemed larger than a regular old stray cat.  The shelter shown in the picture is one that has recently been constructed.  It's a great addition to our already beautiful park.

Enlarge the picture to see the white cat for a closer view.

Back at Bentley, I hurried through my morning routine.  I am picking my granddaughter Kamron up at 9:00 in Parsons.  Even though her birthday isn't until next month, we will be traveling, so we are going to Joplin to spend the day together and do a little shopping.  I think we are both pretty excited about it.

I had to stop at the ATM to get some cash, and then I headed to Parsons.  Kamron was ready and waiting, and we were soon on our way.  The conversation never stops long with Kamron.  She's a great conversationalist and I enjoy hearing all she has to say.  Recently I mentioned she has taken up golf and we enjoyed talking about that.  She is taking lessons and just recently had her first one.  I am excited for her.  

In no time we were in Joplin.  Our first stop was at McDonald's for a caramel frappe.  Once we returned to the truck I needed to call an RV park in Shipshewana, IN to make a reservation as we travel to Matt's the first week of August.  We have been emailing Michael & Kelly with Performance Trailer Braking about having some work done on our rig - including disc breaks and upgrading the axles and shackles.  We plan to have the work done while we are in Shipshewana where they are working a few rallies.  Since I didn't know where we would be staying yet, I had prepared an email to Kelly last night.   Now that I have confirmed the dates and RV Park we will be staying at in Shipshewana I inserted the information in the email and forwarded it to Kelly.  Then Kamron and I moved on to Northpark Mall.  We walked almost the entire length of the mall and popped in quite a few of the stores.  For her birthday I bought her a pair of jeans.   

She was also looking for some school supplies.  Her favorite store is Hobby Lobby.  She loves crafts of all kinds.  She can look here for hours and never buy anything, however today she did find some scrapbook paper, some stick on letters and a few things to decorate her school binder with.

We made a stop at Home Depot to pick up a part for a project her dad is working on, and then we headed to Olive Garden for our lunch.  We both love it and it is a birthday ritual for not only Kamron but also Haleigh & Dacy, my two oldest granddaughters.  Since their birthdays are only a few weeks apart and in the fall, I'll be able to get together with them later this year.

Soon to be 13 years old...

When we were finished with lunch, we made a stop at Office Depot where Kamron found some mechanical pencils and a pencil bag; then a quick stop to see my step-dad Larry and his wife Verna; and finally a stop at Target where Kamron found a school year planner.  We returned to her house a few minutes after 5:00.  As on the way to Joplin, we had a great visit on the way back to her house.  I'm thankful she was talking to me as I was getting pretty tired and she kept me going!

I had asked Kamron earlier what her brother got for his birthday and she told me a bicycle.  It's hard to believe he's growing up so fast and is already 6.  When we pulled up, he was in their garage riding it in circles.  He was doing a great job and of course I had to take a picture to share with you.  

Jaxson

My son Marc arrived home shortly before I left so I had a chance to visit with him for a minute before returning to Oswego.  I was going to get fuel for the truck while in Joplin but when I stopped at Sam's I realized they did not have diesel.  After I left Marc and Jen's I stopped at the Travel Plaza in Parsons, just off Highway 400.  I couldn't get the gas cap off no matter how hard I tried.  My hand hurt from trying.  Since I still had 1/4 tank, I just came on home.  Dean told me later that sometimes it is hard to get the cap off.  I'm not sure I like that since it's our only vehicle now.  I'll have to make sure I have a full tank in the future, or figure out a way to get the gas cap off.

Throughout the day I have been emailing Kelly with Performance Trailer Braking about disc brakes, and upgrading our axles.

When I got home around 6 or so, Dean and I called her husband Michael to ask some specific questions.  Michael needed some measurements on the distance between bolts on the shackles, so we went out and crawled under Bentley trying to get the measurements. We decided one of them must have already started wallowing out because the two measurements were not the same---an indication they probably needed changed anyway.  I know we will feel much safer with the addition of the disc brakes and upgraded shackles.  We decided to hold off on upgrading the axles until we can have the rig reweighed.  Fortunately, we can do that in Shipshewana at the park we will be staying at.  While we are there, a rally will have a weighing crew on site.

When we had Bentley weighed in June of 2017 it indicated we were 100 # over on one of the axles - the front driver's side.  All of the other axles together showed they were under weight by several hundred #'s.  We had discussed changing out the axles but we have decided to hold off until we have Bentley weighed again while we are in Shipshewana.  

Since we are now full time it will be good for us to have Bentley reweighed.  While we tried to limit the number of things we added to Bentley when we became full-time RVer's, we should know the weight we are carrying.

I stopped in the middle of all of the phone calls and emails to make Dean and I a sandwich for supper.  Michael said Kelly had sent the invoice so once we had it we could pay it online and they would get the order sent off so the materials would be onsite when we arrive in Shipshewana.  I kept checking but did not have an invoice.  I finally emailed her because after 30 minutes or so, I still did not have it.  She suggested I check spam and told me how it would show up.  Still nothing.  Dean mentioned his email (Gmail) has a couple of different folders it can go to.  I had been emailing her under my Yahoo account, but after he said that I realized my first email to her was with my Gmail account - sure enough it had been there all the time.  That's the problem with having more than one email account!  Lol!!

Once that was done, I was too!  It was a long day and it wasn't long before I laid my head down...and I think I was out within a few minutes.