One thing after Another....

So much has happened since our last post!!   I will be updating you here.  This might be a long one....

While in Davenport Iowa we stayed at a Country Park which was really nice and would have been terrific if old man winter had not been there.  We couldn't use their hook ups because they would freeze at night and during the day for that matter because it got pretty darn cold.   Our hook up consisted of electricity.  The coach was getting low on water and we needed to dump so the ranger told us the only water source was the space next to us but we could only fill the tank and then unhook so that's what we did.  It worked out great.  Tom hooked up the sewer hose and hid it next to coach so we had a dump too.  All was good with the world.  Tom continued his hobby of photography and finding eagles.  He found a  Peregrine Falcon Like the one below.....

Peregrine Falcon

This guy cooperated for a long time and Tom was able to catch quite a few great shots of him.

He began getting a little irritated with us.  I don't think he wanted his picture taken any more.

I think here he finally told us to piss off and get out of his space.

Tom finally packed up his gear and we headed back North to find the Eagles again.  It was getting bitter cold by now and he decided to go out the next day in the morning which was Saturday and then again on Sunday.  The chill in the air was too much for me so I stayed in and Tom went out.  The eagles were not flying too much.    It seems the Mississippi River was not frozen over so the area these beautiful birds have to hunt is much larger and spread out.  Funny it seemed cold enough for me to freeze !!!

We finished our time in Iowa and planned on leaving Monday Jan 14th.  On Sunday evening we were getting ready when we realized our pipes in the waste water cabinet had frozen.  This caused the filter housing to burst because water expands when it freezes.  ( Who Knew!! )   Tom saw water on the ground, or should I say ice,  coming out of the coach bottom when he went outside.  This is never a good sign ad can cause extreme panic when you find this happening at 9:30 at night in 18 degree weather.  This is where our roller coaster starts.

Figuring out our filter burst and dumped 100 gallons of water under and around the coach making an ice skating ring around the coach was bad enough.  Then we found that Tom didn't make a fall for the waste pipe because he was trying to hide it from the ranger seeing it.  This meant the waste pipe was frozen to the ground and filled with a solid block of ice from our gray tank.  We attempted to pull the pipe from the ice and proceeded to shred it and break it into 4 pieces.  This was an expensive pipe and one we didn't want to lose.  So we drug the pipe across the park with solid ice in it to the garbage can.  It was darn heavy.  

We refilled the tank and tried to use it only to find that the pump wouldn't pump any water as it started shooting out the valve.  Now we thought we had a pump problem. Tom had the ingenious idea to heate the compartment with a light bulb and it seems to work well.  We just had ice in the pipes so once thawed all was well.  Our goal now was to head South and get out of this cold weather.  Seeing the temps at 12 degrees made this girl say " Go South NOW !!!"  We got up Monday morning preparing to leave only to find now that the water we had put in the tank was brown and rusty.  GROSS !!  This was not usable as we did not have our house filters since they broke.  

Then we realized our Satellite Dish was not going down.  WHAT THE HECK was going on.  We called Winegard and found some how our dish had lost communication and Tom had to climb up on the roof to put it down manually.   This took a while but we finally got out of there and dumped the rusty water on the way out on the road.  While driving I opened the fridge to get a snack and the small cherry tomatoes I stored in there for the ride fell on the floor rolling around the while I crawled around like Lucille Ball trying to get them as Tom drove.  One curve after another they rolled right, then left while I tried to grab them.  They were like balls in a maze and kept rolling and moving.  It was so darn funny I was cracking up.  At this point never ask what else can go wrong !!!  I must have done that because the universe opened up again.

I found a Casino RV park in Iowa that said full hook ups but it turned out they turn off the water in winter and neglected to tell when when we checked in.  I woke up with a cold the next day and felt like crap.  We decided to head West to Denver because the weather looked pretty good.  While driving we needed the heat and tried to start the generator.  Well it wouldn't start....SHOCKER !!!  Seems the motor home monsters were truly upon us.  We stopped in Omaha to have it looked at and found it needed a starter.  Well they didn't have one.  What else is new.  But one could be ordered and sent on to Denver where Tom was meeting his adopted son Kirk for dinner the next day.  So we high tailed it through Nebraska, much to the animals disgust !!!  Sam, Coffee, and the kitties were tired of traveling but we had to get there.  We finally made it !!!  Got the started in and they found it needed plugs to.  Let's just say this became a BOAT day  "Bust Out Another Thousand".....  

Next we find we had an air leak in the brakes.  Now we are ready to set fire to this thing.  Which brings us to this morning sitting in Fort Collins, Colorado waiting for service on the brake system.  Well they found we needed a new Air Brake can which of course they don't have the part in stock and have to order it.  We said button it up we're outta here.  Tom ordered it from the manufacturer and had it sent ahead to Idaho for him to install it.  

On top of all of this our Hummer sounds like it needs some work and maybe a belt is giving out.  Oh and by the way we found a loose wire last night when we couldn't get the bed slide out.  Tom was able to fix that thanks to our friends Terry and Kathy who had the same thing happen.  

I am still sick, the coach needs a good cleaning and we are both tired.  Not sure what today will bring but this is an adventure and we wouldn't have it any other way.  These issue come with owning a motor home and we just gotta roll with it.  I hope I have conveyed the twists and turns we have experienced in a few shorts days.  Let's hope this is getting  all the issues out of the way for a while.  

Our destination is still Northern Idaho for a few months at least.  Right now we are traveling North through Wyoming headed for Montana then Idaho.  Should be there in few days.  

Thanks for joining us on our ride !!!