Memorial Day, 2011

We hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day, and took a minute to reflect on what the day was set aside for. Remember, not just those who died in battle, but also those who have givin their lives during peace time. Being in the USAF Law Enforcement for 24 years, I have know and heard of several Military Police who had their lives cut short, just because of the job they held. One such was a friend of mine, who was murdered while off duty in the Philippines, because he was recognized as a K9 Officer. Not asking anyone to dwell on the subject, just to stop for a moment, look up into the sky and remember.



 I thought during this Memorial Day, I would go down to the static aircraft display area and shoot some pictures. I have been playing with Black and White photos lately, Hope you enjoy.

Take Care from Southern NM, and we'll see you next time. Hopefully we'll have our new 5th Wheel by then, this waiting is killing us!!!

Good News X 2

The other day, Sheryl had her second opinion appointment with the new doctor and things didn't turn out quite as expected, it actually went better!!! The doctor reviewed her case, gave her a good examination and told her surgery was not the best option. He explained, in his experience, surgery does more harm than good and recommended physical therapy and pain relief injections. Well of course I was there with her and was expecting her to just lose it, what no surgery after all we have been through to try and get it!!! To my surprise she was Happy, and I was confused?? The doctor left to go write up the referral, and I asked her about how she really felt, and again to my surprise, she said she felt really good about it and very relieved that she wasn't going to have the surgery. So next week we'll look at beginning the physical therapy and make an appointment with the pain management doctor. We both think this is a good decision and hope the PT and injections work and don't't take to long, as we are really ready to be back travelling. Wish her luck!!!
The next bit of good news is, we found a 5th Wheel to buy. We went down to El Paso to look it over in person. Everything looked good and Sheryl just fell in love with the layout inside. We gave the owner a small down payment and we'll be picking it up on the 1st. Ahhh life is good. The rig is a Sunny Brook Mobile Scout 33' Rear Living Triple Slide model. There are a couple of issues here and there, but nothing major and easy fixes. We negotiated a very good deal and are very happy, be even more happy when we can pick it up. In all our excitement, we forgot to get pictures (of course), we have ones from the ad, but would rather post our own.
So that's the Good News X 2 for us this week. Thank goodness no surgery and a new rig to boot, life is good!!! So to add to the suspense, you'll have to wait till we bring her home for pictures.
That's all for this week, so next time we'll see you right here, just Lovin our Life

Next Step Completed

Today I installed a trailer brake controller in the truck. When we traded the Jeep, I had them remove the trailer brake controller, no sense buying a new one. I was originally going to have it installed at our local RV shop, however in talking with them, I found our truck has a plug for a plug and play harness. I picked up a harness at their shop and found all I had to do was strip and crimp the wire together, mount the controller and plug it in. Well, after around half an hour, it was installed, and a mighty fine job if I do say so myself, and I do! So now when we find the 5ver for us, that is one less step to worry about.
Luckily, I have a friend who is going to let me borrow his manual sliding hitch, so I can pick up the 5th wheel when I we find one. This way we can bring it back here , then order the proper capture plate from PullRite for the hitch.
So, it looks like things are coming together, now it's just a matter of waiting for the right rig to come along, and to jump on it right away, as they seem to sell rather quickly. That's it for now, so stay tuned and hopefully we'll have a new rig to show off soon.

It's Official.........I'm Old!!!

 Ok, just kidding on the old part, but................yesterday I finally got my hearing aids from the VA. I've known for a long time that my hearing has been going down the tubes. I've checked into hearing aids in the past, however they have been way to expensive, so poor hearing is something most of us just live with. Well, after X number of years from being retired, I went to the VA, obtained a disability rating (hearing and other issues) and found I qualified for them. Since the VA provides them free of charge, I jumped at the chance to get a set. I was very impressed with the VA as it only took a couple of months to get them.

I chose the smallest, behind the ear type they had, after the consultation, they seemed the best choice. As you can see they are not very noticeable, which is what I was hoping for. At first I really didn't notice a big difference like I was expecting, but the more I wear them, it the suttle things, sounds you don't remember ever hearing. I'm here to tell you, I didn't realize the world was such a noisy place....lol. I've also began to realize how annoying all these little nosies can be. On the plus side, I don't need to have the TV turned up as loud, and the absolute best part is being able to hear my lovely wife again, what a great feeling and of course Sheryl is happy not to have to constantly repeat herself...........happy girl!
That's it for now, I'm really pleased with their performance and glad I decided to get them. Take Care everyone ad we'll see you here next time.

Little Update

Just wanted to answer a couple of comments we've gotten concerning the hitch we installed. The PullRite SuperGlide takes a special adapter plate which is installed on the 5th Wheels King Pin to make the hitch operate correctly. That is the part we have not gotten yet, as we don't know which 5ver we'll be getting. Since there are many different king pin manufactures, we figured we would wait until we found the 5ver to buy then order the proper plate for it, which according to PullRite is a simple install. We could have bought their universal adapter plate, but was told it would be more difficult and time consuming, along with the need for special tools we don't have. Will it be a pain to find the 5ver first and then order the plate, yes, especially if it is some distance from us now. However for the minor PITA at first, it will much nicer in the long run.

We've also been asked a couple of times where we're headed from here. The general plan from here will be KS, OK, TX, to visit family and then on to southern FL by the end of Nov for our sons wedding. Since we'll be in FL already, figure we'd go to north central FL and stay for a bit. Would love to stay farther south, but campground prices really go up during that time if the year. The north central area pricing seems to stay the same and is actually fairly reasonable. After that who knows, we really want to head towards the North West as neither of us has been there. Of course Sheryl wants to see New England also, so that maybe a better choice since we'll be on this side of the country anyway.
Again thanks for all the emails and comments everyone. Like all who have a blog, it's usually started for friends and family first, but it sure is nice to know others enjoy it also. I know we enjoy reading several fulltimers blogs, even though we may not post to them every time, we sure enjoy them.
Take Care all, and see ya next round.

The Hitch is Here!!!

Since Alamogordo, NM is our home base, this is also where we have our mail forwarding service. The ladies in town called yesterday to tell us we had a huge box and if we could come out and get it, as it was too heavy for them to move. My first thought was, Wow I just ordered it 2 days ago and it's here already, now that's service!!!  So I headed downtown to pick it up.

Our mail forwarding service is run by some very nice ladies, so when they said it was heavy, they were right, 280 pounds right!!! I knew hitches were heavy, but, I didn't realize they were that heavy, and of course I was by myself. We'll after alittle thinking and several grunts and many groans, I was able to heft it up into the truck bed...........whew......that took a lot out of me, but I got it up there.  Today I took to installing it. The boxes remained in the bed as I worked around them, be darned if I was going to lift that thing back in the bed again!!  First I installed the rails, alittle twisting and wrenching later and they were in, sure helped having a vehicle you sit up underneath. Next the hitch was put together and everything was pre fit together, before the final tighting down. Well, everything fit just right, so the final tighting was done.

And there she is, all installed and ready to roll, pretty darn good work if I do say so myself. One thing I was glad of, the previous owner had the brackets already installed on the frame, so that made it just a bolt on installation for me, thank goodness.

The hitch is a PullRite SuperGlide automatic sliding hitch. We thought about a manual one at half the cost, but decided to spend alittle more upfront and make life easier and better in the long run. No getting out and manually unlocking and locking the hitch, just let her do it her self........ahhhh nice. The hitch seems very well built and I'm glad we went this route. So the first step to getting a 5th Wheel is complete, next step, finding the one that is right for us. In our price range the choices are alittle more limited, but they are out there and it'll be nice to pay cash and not have another payment.

Ok, the big secret has been revealed, so until next time...............Keep Lovin Your Life as we do ours......Take Care

Somethings Missing



Since we decided to upgrade to a 5th Wheel, we have been busy scouring the Internet to see what is out there in our price range. During our hours spent searching we have surprisingly found quite a few, good to know come buying time. Then of course, I walked out to the truck and noticed we were missing something, if we wanted 5er, hmmmm guess we better look at getting a hitch That sure would be a bummer if we ran across the perfect rig and had no way to get it home!!! So the gears changed from looking at rigs to looking for a hitch. Good news is, theres lots of them out there. Bad news is, most do not come with the rails, are not a sliding hitch (which we need) or are just too far away to make it economically feasible (shipping cost).  After some research I budgeted a figure to spend on a hitch, however I wasn't about to spend nearly that much on a used hitch, when for just a little more, I could buy new. Well after considerable thinking and weighing the options, we decided on one, broke out the debit card and placed an order. Which one did we decide on, well............I have to have something for our next post, so you'll just have to wait.....:) I can say I upped our budget a bit to buy one that will be better for us in the long run. 

Other than racking our brains over the above, life has been pretty normal, day to day life. We are staying in more and not doing a whole lot as we save for the new rig. So until next time.............see ya then.