New F450

Another well kept secret, John and Lu ordered the truck in November and kept it a secret until yesterday when they picked it up.

As you can tell from the picture they are as excited as new grandparents, and they should be.

Stuck

Monday the 7th I drove to Tampa to get stuck.

Took the trailer back to Long View RV Superstore on McIntosh Road to get a few things fixed, I missed the side entrance so went down the road to turnaround. I made a error in judgement in the field that I chose to turn around in, got stuck in the sand. Walked back to the RV dealer and they came to the rescue with a real tractor and pulled the Ford and trailer out, at least it wasn't a lawnmower.

There were a few things to get fixed.

1. leak in the lower corners of the bedroom slide
2. also around a locker door
3. hydraulic valve used to eliminate a slide from coming out.
4. the fresh water tank would only hold 15 gallons instead of 75 gallons
5. the window by the dining room table was binding.

They had to order the valve, so should get it back this week.

The part should be here in another week, next Wednesday or Thursday....

The part should be

Update April 20, 2008 finally got the above items resolved, took a couple of times before they got the correct part from Hartland.

1. In the meantime I discovered another leak (turned out to be the range hood vent sealant had shrank) that had damaged some kitchen cabinet molding this also has taken a number of times ordering and getting either damaged or wrong piece of molding.

It has taken right at 5 months to get 2 correct parts ordered and reordered, can not imagine if they were major item.

Janurary 7 until March 5 to get the control valve and March 5 until April 24 to get the correct peice of molding, do the math.

Just thought I would update this while I remembered because in time I will have forgotten about it.

Home in Brooksville, FL

Last night we had at least 6 hours of temperatures in the 20's, it has been a few years since this has happened.

Suwannee River Hideaway, Old Town, FL

Suwannee River Hideaway

Friday, we arrived around noon, good backroads from White Springs.

Stephen Foster State Park, White Springs, FL

Stephen Foster State Park, White Springs, FL

This is a nice campground close to downtown White Springs, the Suwanee River, Florida Trail and great walking.

The weather has been on the cool side.

Thursday the sun came out today and it was a lovely day, we went to Big Shoal SP but the rapids are a 2 mile walk from the park itself, so they could look much like they did years ago.

After dinner we walked over to the bat house and waited for the bats to exit, and they did they were the heaviest closer to dark, they were at least 100 bats.

Silver River State Park, Silver Springs, FL

Silver River SP, Ocala, FL

Our sites at Silver River, it was hard to tell who had the better site, I think we did, but John & Lu wern't here to compete.

Here is a group shot, looks just like a shot 30 something years ago except.

Good evening campfire

Projects

The awning I installed, along with the doors I finished two projects in one week, I am going to have to pace myself.


Same awning



I made two doors to cover area where the TV would go, if a person watched TV in bed.

The fireplace I installed in the RV, will be nice on those cold nights, Oh well it's not real like some peoples.