I didn't get the best sleep last night worrying about Ivy our cat missing. I checked outside a few times last night in hopes she had returned. Unfortunately she hadn't. I was up at 7:00 and Jami at 7:30, still no signs of Ivy. Jami took Jemma for a walk around the park trying to find her with no luck.
When Jami returned we pulled our Toyota truck over to Walter & Amy's campsite and got prepared to weigh the remaining RV's this morning. I thought we had 5 to do, but apparently we only have 4. The 1st one arrived at 8:45, 2nd one at 9:15 and the 3rd & 4th around 10:30. Once done we weighed our Toyota truck, we've been wanting to weigh it with our 4 scales in it that we use to weigh RV's and since Walter & Amy are here with their scales we went ahead and did it. I had built a storage area to hold our 4 scales in the bed of the truck on the drivers side, but when we weighed the truck we found the driver side to be the heaver side, even when the scales weren't in the truck. So I disassembled the storage thing I built and rebuilt it on the passenger side. Being we had to use our scales to weigh the truck I had now way of knowing what it weighed with the scales in it. We do know each scale weighs about 35 pounds so in doing the math we knew we were pretty balanced when the scales are loaded, but know we know for sure. The drivers side is now only 50 pounds heaver. It doesn't get much better than that :) Us RVSEF weigh teams that weigh RV's can get a little anal about our own RV & vehicle weights.
We talked with Walter & Amy and said our goodbyes as they were pulling out today and that was our plan as well. But with a missing cat those plans could change. We took Jemma for a walk around the street outside of the park calling for "Ivy" the entire time, no luck. So I went down to the office and paid to stay another night so we could continue to look for "Ivy". Jami is sick about not being able to find her, but we'll keep searching!
We needed a few items from the grocery store so we drove to a nearby Kroger's to pick those things up. On the way back we drove around the streets near the campground in hopes we'd get lucky and find Ivy. With no luck, we went home. Jami began baking homemade dog treats for Jemma.
Once she was done we both were on our laptops getting some work done. Jami was working on Origami Owl stuff and Bubba Rope Facebook Page. I was working on entering our financials into the computer. I track every dollar we spend and enter it into an Excel spread sheet I created. We set a budget every year and do our best to stick to it. The one thing we learned is the first year or two of full timing you spend a good chunk of money on things you never though you would want or need. So needless to say we've gone WAY OVER budget on our first 2 years of full timing in our 5th wheel. But we can see why we went over and know we should be within our normal budget again our 3rd year of full timing which begins in October 2014. I will be working on posting our budget verses actual expenses soon.
Time flew by while we were working , all of a sudden it was almost 5:00 so Jami made us some dinner and just as we sat down to eat someone knocked at the door. It was one of Lades with the Rally here informing us that someone saw a cat under a motorhome about 10 campsites down from ours. Earlier in the day Jami sent an email out to Steve who is heading this rally informing him of our last cat and to spread the word to all the Rally attendees if he could. Apparently he got the word out to everyone. THANK YOU SO MUCH STEVE!!!!!! We ran down there calling her name "Ivy, Ivy, Ivy over and over. Finally, there she was laying on the ground next to a motorhome as if nothing was wrong. I saw another cat run off so I guess she was out making friends and parting all night :) She walked towards me and I swooped her up and headed back home thanking everyone I passed for keeping an eye out. If it wasn't for the generosity fellow RV'ers helping those in need as always I'm not sure we would have found her. I'm proud to be an RV'er.
We got Ivy inside and gave her the heart medication she needs. She drank some water and then wanted back outside, I DONT THINK SO!!! She jumped on the couch and went to sleep.
Jami and I finished our dinner, got showers and planned the next few stops on the way to Shreveport, LA for our next Rally that starts on 9/30. We watched some TV and went to bed around 11pm. Well sleep much better tonight!!
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
9/22/14 Work & then a very short move
I was up at 6:45am this morning to get ready to weigh the last 5 RV's today. We had notified them that we would be at the weigh site between 8 - 12 today. A saw a RV drive by at 7:30 so then I was thinking I'd better get to the weigh site incase that was one of the people getting weighed. I drove up front thinking I would see him waiting for me, but for a change there was no one there :) Usually if we tell them well be there at 8 they show up at 7:30. It was chilly this morning, 57is what the truck thermometer said. Brrrr.
I got set up and the first one showed up at 7:50. I decided that I would leave Jami in bed since there was only 5 to weigh. That should score me some points with the wife :) I got that one weighed and then waited for the next one to show. I was hoping they would all show up before 10 so I didn't have to hang out there till 12. Wishful thinking. Jami showed up at 8:45 and waited with me for the next RV to arrive. Time goes by so slow when your sitting around waiting. At 9:15 (3) showed up 1 right after another, NICE!! By 9:50 we were done with those 3 and just waiting for the last one to show. Luckily we didn't have to wait too long, my fear was they wouldn't arrive till 11:55, but at 10:15 there they were! We finished up around 10:30 and headed back home to begin packing up the RV to drive the 10 miles to "Two Rivers RV Resort" where we've been weighing some of the Newmar coaches. The official name of the Rally is "HOOTS II".
We were packed up and pulling out of our site #49 by 11:30am and all re-set up at "Two Rivers" by 12 :) That's been the shortest and fastest travel day we've ever had.
This evening Jami has an "Origami Owl" showing here at 5pm in the office lobby so she set everything up on a table in our campsite #43 just to make sure she was prepared for when she did it later. While she was doing that I took our dually to the gas station to fill up on diesel fuel. It took $204, Ouch! and it wasn't even empty. I shouldn't complain, the fuel price is pretty low in this area, $3.04 for gas & 3.45 for diesel, of course don't forget to add that .9 cents to that :) When I got back she was all done and began putting everything back away and loaded in the Toyota truck to drive down to the office later. It was a beautiful day with a high of 72 predicted and not a cloud in the sky with a breeze. I'll take it!! Being so nice and nothing really to do we decided to take Jemma for a walk, we haven't been walking her much the last few days so it was time to let her stretch those legs.
We walked about 3/4 of a mile around the block that the campground is on, Jemma was getting pretty hot so we headed back to the RV. Walter & Amy were just walking out of the campground laundry mat as we were walking by so we walked together to our campsite and hung out chatting till 3:45 when Jami had to start getting ready for her jewelry show.
Jami headed to the office at 4:15 to get set up and I walked down there at 5:00 to see how it looked.
I got set up and the first one showed up at 7:50. I decided that I would leave Jami in bed since there was only 5 to weigh. That should score me some points with the wife :) I got that one weighed and then waited for the next one to show. I was hoping they would all show up before 10 so I didn't have to hang out there till 12. Wishful thinking. Jami showed up at 8:45 and waited with me for the next RV to arrive. Time goes by so slow when your sitting around waiting. At 9:15 (3) showed up 1 right after another, NICE!! By 9:50 we were done with those 3 and just waiting for the last one to show. Luckily we didn't have to wait too long, my fear was they wouldn't arrive till 11:55, but at 10:15 there they were! We finished up around 10:30 and headed back home to begin packing up the RV to drive the 10 miles to "Two Rivers RV Resort" where we've been weighing some of the Newmar coaches. The official name of the Rally is "HOOTS II".
We were packed up and pulling out of our site #49 by 11:30am and all re-set up at "Two Rivers" by 12 :) That's been the shortest and fastest travel day we've ever had.
The campground, 1 street
This evening Jami has an "Origami Owl" showing here at 5pm in the office lobby so she set everything up on a table in our campsite #43 just to make sure she was prepared for when she did it later. While she was doing that I took our dually to the gas station to fill up on diesel fuel. It took $204, Ouch! and it wasn't even empty. I shouldn't complain, the fuel price is pretty low in this area, $3.04 for gas & 3.45 for diesel, of course don't forget to add that .9 cents to that :) When I got back she was all done and began putting everything back away and loaded in the Toyota truck to drive down to the office later. It was a beautiful day with a high of 72 predicted and not a cloud in the sky with a breeze. I'll take it!! Being so nice and nothing really to do we decided to take Jemma for a walk, we haven't been walking her much the last few days so it was time to let her stretch those legs.
We walked about 3/4 of a mile around the block that the campground is on, Jemma was getting pretty hot so we headed back to the RV. Walter & Amy were just walking out of the campground laundry mat as we were walking by so we walked together to our campsite and hung out chatting till 3:45 when Jami had to start getting ready for her jewelry show.
Jami headed to the office at 4:15 to get set up and I walked down there at 5:00 to see how it looked.
I left her to it and joined Walter & Amy for dinner at another Mexican restaurant. The food was delicious and the service was good too. We got back just before 7pm, Walter and I stayed outside by the office with Jemma while Amy went inside and helped Jami pack up. She had a few sales and was pleased with the showing. We all went back to our respective campers, I ordered a "Chipotle Burrito" to go from the restaurant so Jami ate that before we walked over to Walter and Amy's campsite #46 to have some wine and chat. We called it a night just after 10pm and walked home. I had let Ivy (Our Cat) outside before we went over to Walter & Amy's, we normally let her outside and she never goes far, usually hangs out under our camper. Well when we got back she was nowhere to be found, we quietly called for her with no luck so we went inside and went to bed. Worried about her I woke up a number of times through out the night and went outside to see if she came back. Nope. She had a stroke a few months back so she's on medication and has been doing very well. We're praying nothing happened and she'll return tomorrow. Well keep looking for her!!
Monday, September 22, 2014
9/21/14 Early start to a work day
We wanted to be out of bed no later than 6am to make sure we had plenty of time to be ready for our first weighing at 7:15 so I set the alarm clock to go off at 5:30. No sooner did I fall asleep, and the alarm clock was going off, or at least it felt that way :) I was out of bed by 5:40 and Jami wasn't far behind at 6am. It almost never fails that who ever is scheduled first, shows up way early and is waiting at the weigh site for me to arrive. So I drove to the weigh site just before7am to get set up and to my surprise no one was there waiting. I started setting up and Jami arrived with Jemma, they walked. We were fully set up and waiting for the first weighing to arrive. They arrived right on time and the weighing began. Walter & Amy Cannon arrived at 7:30 to help us out. All but a few showed up right when they were scheduled so we never got behind or had a long line :) It was a mixture of people well within their weight ratings, and those that were exceeding a few. We found something wrong on the suspension on one trailer, the weight reading looked off so we moved him and re-weighed him again to be sure. Yep, it weighed the same so something was wrong with the passenger side front tire/suspension because that tire was carrying twice the weight as the one behind it. They have Mor/ryde suspension which is a rubber suspension, so they may have a tear in the rubber spring. We had 1 that was exceeding EVERY rating but 1 on the truck, and EVERY rating on the trailer. OUCH!! We had 1 motorhome that was pulling up, and noticed us so he asked if he could get weighed, Sure! He was in great shape, just need to add air to the front tires and lower the air in the rears. We finished up the 11 weighing's we had scheduled plus the 1 motorhome by 12 and were packing up. Walter & Amy went back to there motorhome earlier around 11 to meet some friends of theirs.
We went home and started eating some lunch when Walter called and invited us to join them and their friends at Applewood Farm House Restaurant for lunch and then to visit the Apple Barn Winery just behind the restaurant. Well, we weren't that hungry since we just ate, but what the heck, we could use some more wine :) So we accepted and met them there. We ordered light, the food was pretty good and the service was okay. After lunch we walked over to the winery to sample the wine. I found a Cabernet wine that I liked, and Jami found a couple White wines she liked, so I ended up leaving with 1 bottle and Jami ended up with 3 :) There was a couple other shops there so we all browsed for a bit. It was going on 4pm so we all went to our vehicle's to leave, Jami & I needed to get home to get some of todays paperwork finalized and Jami needed to create an information page for her Origami Owl jewelry to email to Steve who is heading up the Nemar Rally at Two Rivers RV Resort, where we've also been weighing rigs the past few days. Steve invited Jami to set up a display of the jewelry Monday (tomorrow) early evening in the campgrounds office lobby for the women at the Rally to look at and hopefully make some purchases. Thanks Steve!
We got everything completed around 5pm so we drove over to Walter & Amy's campsite at Two Rivers to join them and their friends Don & Deanne to taste test our earlier wine purchases :) The conversation flowed nonstop till just before 8pm when Don & Deanne needed to leave to drive home which is a little over an hour away. We departed soon after and headed home to get showers and watch the NASCAR race the we had set to record on the DVR earlier today. What a full day it was today, some work and some good times with friends. We love this lifestyle!
I do have to say though to anyone debating about traveling and living in a RV fulltime that's it's not always sun & roses out here. There are those boring and/or frustrating days, things that need fixing on the RV or truck. Trying to find your next campsite can be a challenge sometimes or the disappointment when you had high hopes for a campground to arrive and find it's not your cup of tea. But the beauty of the lifestyle is the ability to move on, adapt or whatever to keep the dream going. we love it, but understand it's not for everyone. The most important thing is you better be best friends with your partner, you may love them, BUT you better also LIKE them!! ALOT!!! Luckily Jami & I are best of friends!!!!! Now you may be scratching you head thinking "Of course if I love them I must like them" OH NO my friends, there is a big difference! Spend a lot of time with your spouse in a small place like an RV (400sq feet) for at least 1 or 2 months, then you'll have a better idea what the difference is :) There are tricks you can use to help this out, if your interested in some of them that we have learned living the past 2+ years in our RV let me know in the comment section. If I see enough of a response of people wanting to know I'll make a separate post on the subject.
It was almost 9pm before we were ready to sit down to watch the NASCAR race. LETS RACE!! :) The second half of the race was pretty exciting and we thought the driver we were cheering for had a chance to win, but then he was crashed towards the end of the race. We headed for bed at 11pm exhausted. We only have 5 RV's to weigh tomorrow and we don't need to be there till 8am. We don't have scheduled times for the weighing's tomorrow, we just told them we would be ready at the weigh site between 8 - 12.
We went home and started eating some lunch when Walter called and invited us to join them and their friends at Applewood Farm House Restaurant for lunch and then to visit the Apple Barn Winery just behind the restaurant. Well, we weren't that hungry since we just ate, but what the heck, we could use some more wine :) So we accepted and met them there. We ordered light, the food was pretty good and the service was okay. After lunch we walked over to the winery to sample the wine. I found a Cabernet wine that I liked, and Jami found a couple White wines she liked, so I ended up leaving with 1 bottle and Jami ended up with 3 :) There was a couple other shops there so we all browsed for a bit. It was going on 4pm so we all went to our vehicle's to leave, Jami & I needed to get home to get some of todays paperwork finalized and Jami needed to create an information page for her Origami Owl jewelry to email to Steve who is heading up the Nemar Rally at Two Rivers RV Resort, where we've also been weighing rigs the past few days. Steve invited Jami to set up a display of the jewelry Monday (tomorrow) early evening in the campgrounds office lobby for the women at the Rally to look at and hopefully make some purchases. Thanks Steve!
We got everything completed around 5pm so we drove over to Walter & Amy's campsite at Two Rivers to join them and their friends Don & Deanne to taste test our earlier wine purchases :) The conversation flowed nonstop till just before 8pm when Don & Deanne needed to leave to drive home which is a little over an hour away. We departed soon after and headed home to get showers and watch the NASCAR race the we had set to record on the DVR earlier today. What a full day it was today, some work and some good times with friends. We love this lifestyle!
I do have to say though to anyone debating about traveling and living in a RV fulltime that's it's not always sun & roses out here. There are those boring and/or frustrating days, things that need fixing on the RV or truck. Trying to find your next campsite can be a challenge sometimes or the disappointment when you had high hopes for a campground to arrive and find it's not your cup of tea. But the beauty of the lifestyle is the ability to move on, adapt or whatever to keep the dream going. we love it, but understand it's not for everyone. The most important thing is you better be best friends with your partner, you may love them, BUT you better also LIKE them!! ALOT!!! Luckily Jami & I are best of friends!!!!! Now you may be scratching you head thinking "Of course if I love them I must like them" OH NO my friends, there is a big difference! Spend a lot of time with your spouse in a small place like an RV (400sq feet) for at least 1 or 2 months, then you'll have a better idea what the difference is :) There are tricks you can use to help this out, if your interested in some of them that we have learned living the past 2+ years in our RV let me know in the comment section. If I see enough of a response of people wanting to know I'll make a separate post on the subject.
It was almost 9pm before we were ready to sit down to watch the NASCAR race. LETS RACE!! :) The second half of the race was pretty exciting and we thought the driver we were cheering for had a chance to win, but then he was crashed towards the end of the race. We headed for bed at 11pm exhausted. We only have 5 RV's to weigh tomorrow and we don't need to be there till 8am. We don't have scheduled times for the weighing's tomorrow, we just told them we would be ready at the weigh site between 8 - 12.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
9/20/14 Work day with a little fun mixed in
Welp, today we had a weighing at 9:30am so I was out of bed at 7:30 and Jami at 8. We did our normal sitting outside chatting while she was reading & updating Facebook, both hers and "Bubba Ropes". It wasn't long before 9:15 rolled around so I drove the truck up front to our weigh site while Jami walked Jemma there. I was pretty much set up when she arrived and the person who we were weighing walked up to be sure we were ready for him. Just after 9:30 he arrived and we got him weighed. Everything looked pretty good, he did need to adjust some air pressures so he will be within all his ratings. We went back home and hung out waiting till it was time to go back up front for our 12 O'clock weighing. Well, we were there just before 12, but the person we were weighing didn't show up till 12:30, oh well. We got them weighed and they too looked pretty good, they were maxed out on an axle rating on the trailer, but at least not exceeding it.
Once done we went back to our camper to grab a few things and headed out to the "Smokey Flea Market". One there we parked and started walking around. 1/2 of it is outside and the other 1/2 is inside so when Jemma would begin to get too hot we would go to the inside portion, once she cooled down we headed back outside :) We spent about an hour or so there and picked up some local honey. Jami loves good honey. We then headed over to "Two Rivers RV Resort" to hang out with Walter & Amy Cannon (our bosses) till our 4pm weighing arrived. Well, he saw us pull in so he walked down to see if he could come early, Sure. Apparently we had 4 or 5 to weigh there today, news to me, I thought it was 3 :) No problem, we got them all weighed as they arrived and had plenty of down time in between to hand out and chat and get to know some of the "Newmar Rally" attendees. What a great group of people. I will tell you that you will never meet nicer people than RV'ers. Of course there's always that exception, but most will go out of their way to help a fellow RV'er.
Walter and I went over to one of the rigs we weighed that had bagels with about 6 choices of different topping to put on them out for everyone in the park that wandered by. It will take him a week to get rid of that many bagels . There was about 8 people chatting it up over there so we hung out for 15-20 minuets talking till we figured we better get back to the wives. When we got back I got the feeling we weren't missed :) We chatted on and on till we looked at the time, 8pm! We need to get going, we both need to take showers and get to bed at a decent hour. We hit a drive thru AGAIN for dinner and headed straight home. Jami took her shower first then my turn. It was 9:45pm by the time that was done so we watched a little TV to wind down and then it was off to bed by 10:30pm.
Our first weighing tomorrow is scheduled at 7:15am so we to be up by 6:15 to be ready in time. We have 11 weighing scheduled tomorrow between 7:15 and 11 so it will be a pretty busy day. Luckily Walter & Amy are going to come over around 8am to help out. Their help is very appreciated!
Once done we went back to our camper to grab a few things and headed out to the "Smokey Flea Market". One there we parked and started walking around. 1/2 of it is outside and the other 1/2 is inside so when Jemma would begin to get too hot we would go to the inside portion, once she cooled down we headed back outside :) We spent about an hour or so there and picked up some local honey. Jami loves good honey. We then headed over to "Two Rivers RV Resort" to hang out with Walter & Amy Cannon (our bosses) till our 4pm weighing arrived. Well, he saw us pull in so he walked down to see if he could come early, Sure. Apparently we had 4 or 5 to weigh there today, news to me, I thought it was 3 :) No problem, we got them all weighed as they arrived and had plenty of down time in between to hand out and chat and get to know some of the "Newmar Rally" attendees. What a great group of people. I will tell you that you will never meet nicer people than RV'ers. Of course there's always that exception, but most will go out of their way to help a fellow RV'er.
Walter and I went over to one of the rigs we weighed that had bagels with about 6 choices of different topping to put on them out for everyone in the park that wandered by. It will take him a week to get rid of that many bagels . There was about 8 people chatting it up over there so we hung out for 15-20 minuets talking till we figured we better get back to the wives. When we got back I got the feeling we weren't missed :) We chatted on and on till we looked at the time, 8pm! We need to get going, we both need to take showers and get to bed at a decent hour. We hit a drive thru AGAIN for dinner and headed straight home. Jami took her shower first then my turn. It was 9:45pm by the time that was done so we watched a little TV to wind down and then it was off to bed by 10:30pm.
Our first weighing tomorrow is scheduled at 7:15am so we to be up by 6:15 to be ready in time. We have 11 weighing scheduled tomorrow between 7:15 and 11 so it will be a pretty busy day. Luckily Walter & Amy are going to come over around 8am to help out. Their help is very appreciated!
Saturday, September 20, 2014
9/19/14 Little more work that originally planned :)
We were up around my usual of 7:30 and Jami at 8:30. We had to weigh the remainder of the "Truck Only" today between 12 & 2 here at the Carriage Rally, but when we were over at the "Two Rivers RV Resort yesterday visiting with our boss Walter cannon a solo RV'er asked if she could get weighed this morning on her way out. We of course said yes so we jumped in the truck and headed that way at 9:40. We arrived right on time and I walked down to her site to help direct her out of her campsite. We got her weighed when another gentleman wanted to get weighed so we did another weighing. Now that the word is out in that campground a few others are wanted to get weighed so we let them know we would be back at 3pm after we finish up at the Carriage Rally today at 2pm.
We jumped back in the truck and drove back to our campground to get set up for todays weighing's of trucks. They started rolling up right at 12, and of course then they show up all at once. We went as fast as we could but still had a line of trucks 4 deep waiting. By 1pm we had weighed 10 trucks, we called the remaining 4 people who had signed up to make sure they were on there way, but 3 cancelled and the other was on his way. We finished up right at 2pm so back in the truck we go to head back to "Two River RV Resort" to weigh 3 motorhomes. On the way we hit a drive thru to get some lunch.
We usually never eat out, but it seems when ever were working weighing RV's we tend to quite often. We call it "I'm cooking dinner" and usually starts like this. (Me) hey hun, what are we doing for dinner? (Jami) I'm not sure yet. (Me) Want me to cook? (Jami) I would love that. (Me) Okay, get in the truck :) Ya see, me cooking means were going out to eat. Usually its the dollar menu at a fast food drive thru, but sometimes if its been a long day Jami will make the announcement "I AM GETTING A MEAL DEAL"! Jami doesn't ask for much so when the announcement made, it would be best for me to spring for a meal deal :) Happy Wife = Happy Life
Once we arrived at Walter's campsite at Two Rivers RV Resort we hung out a bit waiting for the motorhomes to arrive. The first arrival showed up so we knocked that one out quickly. Then we got to watch them unload there 2015 corvette off of an all aluminum trailer. Okey Dokey
We waited about 30 min or so for the next one to arrive, once finished with that on the 3rd weighing was ready. Now this gentleman arrived here a few days ago and is carrying a Gold Wing motorcycle on a lift mounted to the back of his motorhome. He wanted to get weighed twice, 1st with the motorcycle and then without so he would know how much weight the motorcycle added. He backed out of his site and pulled up onto the scales, once we got his weights he pulled out of the way and unloaded the bike. It took about 30 minutes for him to get this done then he pulled back onto the scales. The motorcycle added 1200 pounds, but he was well under all his ratings even when it was loaded. Now he is in a 45' motorhome with a tag axle. A tag axle is and extra axle in the back with 1 tire on each side, so he has a lot of carrying capacity with that set up. There was a 4th couple that wanted to get weighed today, but he was getting his motorhome washed and by the time it was done he needed to leave with a group of folks that were going out to dinner.
Walter and his wife Amy love Mexican food, so earlier I had dropped a few hints about a Mexican restaurant up the road. The one thing we've learned is whenever you go out to eat with them they always pick up the tab :) Now we've offered to pay numerous times, but they always insist on paying. Great! I'm cooking and their paying :) They followed us in there rental car to the restaurant which was about 10 minutes away. Beings we had Jemma with us she stayed in the truck with the air conditioner running while we went inside to stuff our faces. The conversation is always plentiful with them, they have been involved in the RV industry in one way or the other for many years so there is always a funny story to be heard from them. The food was excellent as we all practically licked our plates clean :) The service was a little slow, but with food that good we didn't mind. Once we were done we went our separate ways as we needed to get home to get some more work done.
Once home we both got showers and sat down to work on the paperwork portion of our job. Now that all the trucks have been weighed we had to print out tire charts for each person so we have them ready when we weigh there truck & trailer on Sunday and Monday. How it works is first we weigh the truck by itself, then we weigh it again with the trailer hooked up so we can determine how much weight the trailer adds to the truck. We call this "Pin weight" or "Tongue weight". Once that is done then we weigh the trailer. We got that done and then Jami started counting the money to make sure everyone had paid. Everything balanced out, That's always a good thing :) It was getting close to 11pm so we called it a night. We have 2 couples leaving tomorrow morning so 1 is scheduled to get weighed at 9:30 and the other 12. Sorry for not having any pictures today.
We jumped back in the truck and drove back to our campground to get set up for todays weighing's of trucks. They started rolling up right at 12, and of course then they show up all at once. We went as fast as we could but still had a line of trucks 4 deep waiting. By 1pm we had weighed 10 trucks, we called the remaining 4 people who had signed up to make sure they were on there way, but 3 cancelled and the other was on his way. We finished up right at 2pm so back in the truck we go to head back to "Two River RV Resort" to weigh 3 motorhomes. On the way we hit a drive thru to get some lunch.
We usually never eat out, but it seems when ever were working weighing RV's we tend to quite often. We call it "I'm cooking dinner" and usually starts like this. (Me) hey hun, what are we doing for dinner? (Jami) I'm not sure yet. (Me) Want me to cook? (Jami) I would love that. (Me) Okay, get in the truck :) Ya see, me cooking means were going out to eat. Usually its the dollar menu at a fast food drive thru, but sometimes if its been a long day Jami will make the announcement "I AM GETTING A MEAL DEAL"! Jami doesn't ask for much so when the announcement made, it would be best for me to spring for a meal deal :) Happy Wife = Happy Life
Once we arrived at Walter's campsite at Two Rivers RV Resort we hung out a bit waiting for the motorhomes to arrive. The first arrival showed up so we knocked that one out quickly. Then we got to watch them unload there 2015 corvette off of an all aluminum trailer. Okey Dokey
We waited about 30 min or so for the next one to arrive, once finished with that on the 3rd weighing was ready. Now this gentleman arrived here a few days ago and is carrying a Gold Wing motorcycle on a lift mounted to the back of his motorhome. He wanted to get weighed twice, 1st with the motorcycle and then without so he would know how much weight the motorcycle added. He backed out of his site and pulled up onto the scales, once we got his weights he pulled out of the way and unloaded the bike. It took about 30 minutes for him to get this done then he pulled back onto the scales. The motorcycle added 1200 pounds, but he was well under all his ratings even when it was loaded. Now he is in a 45' motorhome with a tag axle. A tag axle is and extra axle in the back with 1 tire on each side, so he has a lot of carrying capacity with that set up. There was a 4th couple that wanted to get weighed today, but he was getting his motorhome washed and by the time it was done he needed to leave with a group of folks that were going out to dinner.
Walter and his wife Amy love Mexican food, so earlier I had dropped a few hints about a Mexican restaurant up the road. The one thing we've learned is whenever you go out to eat with them they always pick up the tab :) Now we've offered to pay numerous times, but they always insist on paying. Great! I'm cooking and their paying :) They followed us in there rental car to the restaurant which was about 10 minutes away. Beings we had Jemma with us she stayed in the truck with the air conditioner running while we went inside to stuff our faces. The conversation is always plentiful with them, they have been involved in the RV industry in one way or the other for many years so there is always a funny story to be heard from them. The food was excellent as we all practically licked our plates clean :) The service was a little slow, but with food that good we didn't mind. Once we were done we went our separate ways as we needed to get home to get some more work done.
Once home we both got showers and sat down to work on the paperwork portion of our job. Now that all the trucks have been weighed we had to print out tire charts for each person so we have them ready when we weigh there truck & trailer on Sunday and Monday. How it works is first we weigh the truck by itself, then we weigh it again with the trailer hooked up so we can determine how much weight the trailer adds to the truck. We call this "Pin weight" or "Tongue weight". Once that is done then we weigh the trailer. We got that done and then Jami started counting the money to make sure everyone had paid. Everything balanced out, That's always a good thing :) It was getting close to 11pm so we called it a night. We have 2 couples leaving tomorrow morning so 1 is scheduled to get weighed at 9:30 and the other 12. Sorry for not having any pictures today.
Friday, September 19, 2014
9/18/14 A little work with a little fun
Well, today I actually sleep in a bit, 8:40! Of course it was a little after midnight before we went to bed. Jami was up about 15 minuet's after me waiting on coffee to finish brewing. I think she grabbed a cup before it was done :) We sat outside enjoying the brisk temperatures. I know from friends and family in Florida that its been HOT down there. We had some breakfast and made sure everything was in order for weighing trucks today. One gentleman stopped by to make sure he knew when and where we were going to be to get his truck weighed.
Around 11:30 we jumped in the Toyota and drove up to the front of the campground to the weigh site and got set up.
Just as we finished getting set up the first Truck arrived to get weighed. We got them weighed, collected the $60 fee and helped them finish filling in some of the needed information on the paperwork. The paperwork or "Homework Sheet" we call it is very important. We need to know all the weight ratings on the truck and on the RV so once we weigh them we can let them know if there are any major concerns and if they are exceeded any of there ratings. Our organization "RVSEF" started weighing RV's in 1993 and has weighed over 40,000 of them. As of now 58% of all the RV's weighed exceed 1 or more of there weight rating. A lot of times we can make suggestions to fix the problem or at least to help manage the situation and sometimes it can be so bad there is no way of fixing the problem without either getting rid of ALOT of stuff, needing a bigger truck or even BOTH. It was an easy day with only about 7 trucks showing up, but tomorrow will probably be a little busier. Once it was 2:00 we packed up and head back to our campsite to get some lunch.
Once we ate lunch we jumped back in the truck to drive over to Patriot Park in Pigeon Forge. I couldn't help but to take a pictures of the Smokey Mountains in the distance on the way.
Its a nice park with a memorial for those from this area that were lost in war. It also has 50 state flags lining the 1/2 mile paved walking path around the park with a date on each flag poll noting when they joined the union. At least that's what I believe the date meant.
I must make a comment about people that do not pick up after there dogs. While walking the 1/2 mile loop around the park we walked down a slope to the river, Well, this is where I about fell down and threw my back out when I stepped in, (yep, you guessed it) a slick pill of poo! Needless to say I was a little more than upset at the person who didn't pick up after there dog. After gathering myself up I limped down to the river to wash my shoe. We've even seen poo left next to a provided trash can with dog poop bags being provided. It's sad how the select few can ruin it for the majority, of course that statement reaches a lot farther than dog poo. Before going fulltime in our RV we used to be avid 4 wheelers. We loved taking our 4 wheelers to places to ride and we began noticing a lot of places no longer allowing it due to the few that veer from the trails and damage vegetation or trash the place with all their empty beer cans and garbage left behind. Sad!
Once we finished walking the 1/2 mile loop we decided to drive to "Sevierville City Park" that sits along the Little Pigeon Forge river which I now know is the same river our campground is on. We walked around for and hour or so enjoying the scenery of the river.
We drove back home and Jami started making dinner. Just as she was finishing up we received a phone call from Walter Cannon. He is the executive director of RVSEF, in other words out boss :) It just so happens he's traveling in this area attending other RV events and giving seminars. He's camped at our next stop Two Rivers Resort where were weighing RV's for a Newmar Rally Tuesday. So after dinner we drove over there to visit for awhile. Being there here they offered to help us weigh RV's, Nice! While visiting them a lady walked over and inquired about getting her 45' motorhome weighed tomorrow, being it fit in our schedule we agreed to come back tomorrow morning to weigh her. She is a single solo RV'er since her husband passed away a year ago. It's nice to see her continuing to RV. It was almost 10pm when we left for home, on our way home I noticed the odometer on our Toyota truck turning 36K. Out of warrantee now :) Once home we both got showers and went straight to bed
Around 11:30 we jumped in the Toyota and drove up to the front of the campground to the weigh site and got set up.
Just as we finished getting set up the first Truck arrived to get weighed. We got them weighed, collected the $60 fee and helped them finish filling in some of the needed information on the paperwork. The paperwork or "Homework Sheet" we call it is very important. We need to know all the weight ratings on the truck and on the RV so once we weigh them we can let them know if there are any major concerns and if they are exceeded any of there ratings. Our organization "RVSEF" started weighing RV's in 1993 and has weighed over 40,000 of them. As of now 58% of all the RV's weighed exceed 1 or more of there weight rating. A lot of times we can make suggestions to fix the problem or at least to help manage the situation and sometimes it can be so bad there is no way of fixing the problem without either getting rid of ALOT of stuff, needing a bigger truck or even BOTH. It was an easy day with only about 7 trucks showing up, but tomorrow will probably be a little busier. Once it was 2:00 we packed up and head back to our campsite to get some lunch.
Once we ate lunch we jumped back in the truck to drive over to Patriot Park in Pigeon Forge. I couldn't help but to take a pictures of the Smokey Mountains in the distance on the way.
Its a nice park with a memorial for those from this area that were lost in war. It also has 50 state flags lining the 1/2 mile paved walking path around the park with a date on each flag poll noting when they joined the union. At least that's what I believe the date meant.
Florida State Flag
I must make a comment about people that do not pick up after there dogs. While walking the 1/2 mile loop around the park we walked down a slope to the river, Well, this is where I about fell down and threw my back out when I stepped in, (yep, you guessed it) a slick pill of poo! Needless to say I was a little more than upset at the person who didn't pick up after there dog. After gathering myself up I limped down to the river to wash my shoe. We've even seen poo left next to a provided trash can with dog poop bags being provided. It's sad how the select few can ruin it for the majority, of course that statement reaches a lot farther than dog poo. Before going fulltime in our RV we used to be avid 4 wheelers. We loved taking our 4 wheelers to places to ride and we began noticing a lot of places no longer allowing it due to the few that veer from the trails and damage vegetation or trash the place with all their empty beer cans and garbage left behind. Sad!
Once we finished walking the 1/2 mile loop we decided to drive to "Sevierville City Park" that sits along the Little Pigeon Forge river which I now know is the same river our campground is on. We walked around for and hour or so enjoying the scenery of the river.
We drove back home and Jami started making dinner. Just as she was finishing up we received a phone call from Walter Cannon. He is the executive director of RVSEF, in other words out boss :) It just so happens he's traveling in this area attending other RV events and giving seminars. He's camped at our next stop Two Rivers Resort where were weighing RV's for a Newmar Rally Tuesday. So after dinner we drove over there to visit for awhile. Being there here they offered to help us weigh RV's, Nice! While visiting them a lady walked over and inquired about getting her 45' motorhome weighed tomorrow, being it fit in our schedule we agreed to come back tomorrow morning to weigh her. She is a single solo RV'er since her husband passed away a year ago. It's nice to see her continuing to RV. It was almost 10pm when we left for home, on our way home I noticed the odometer on our Toyota truck turning 36K. Out of warrantee now :) Once home we both got showers and went straight to bed
Thursday, September 18, 2014
9/17/14 Day off turns into Reorganizing
I woke up at 6:15 this morning! Are you kidding me? Unwilling to get up that early so I laid there till 7:20. I did catch a few more zzzz's, but getting anymore sleep just wasn't going to happen so I got up. Jami mentioned yesterday that she wanted to make some dog treats from scratch today, but needed some oats and a sweet potato from the store. Being I was up I decided to run to Wal-mart before the crowds of people and pick up those 2 items. Once back home I was pondering what I wanted to do today, well I decided I was going to remove everything from the bed of our Toyota truck and reorganize it.
We travel with 2 vehicles, 1 is a 2012 GMC 3500 dually to pull our 5th wheel camper and the other is a 2012 Toyota Tacoma truck. There's many reasons why we do this, but primarily its for more storage and the ease of getting around in a smaller vehicle.
I forgot to get a picture of the bed of the truck before I started, but just imagine it looking something like this :)
While I was removing everything from the truck Jami got up and came out side to take witness of the stuff I had sprawled all over our campsite. Fortunately we don't have anyone camped next to us :) It took about 2 hours to complete, but here is the finished product. You can actually see some floor. NICE!!!!
Once that job was complete we decided to take Jemma for a walk around the campground. we walked along the river in the back of the campground so I decided to get a few pictures of some flowers.
Once we reached the end I couldn't help myself from taking a few more pictures of the water and Jemma :)
We travel with 2 vehicles, 1 is a 2012 GMC 3500 dually to pull our 5th wheel camper and the other is a 2012 Toyota Tacoma truck. There's many reasons why we do this, but primarily its for more storage and the ease of getting around in a smaller vehicle.
I forgot to get a picture of the bed of the truck before I started, but just imagine it looking something like this :)
While I was removing everything from the truck Jami got up and came out side to take witness of the stuff I had sprawled all over our campsite. Fortunately we don't have anyone camped next to us :) It took about 2 hours to complete, but here is the finished product. You can actually see some floor. NICE!!!!
Everything on the right side is for us to weigh RV's. 4 DOT scales, 3 signs to direct people to the weigh site, 8 safety cones, Banner to hang when we have a booth set up, 4' level, safety vest and a few other small items. Once that job was complete we decided to take Jemma for a walk around the campground. we walked along the river in the back of the campground so I decided to get a few pictures of some flowers.
Once we returned Jemma was pooped! Not sure why she chose to lay in the sun, but after about 5 minutes she relocated over into the shade.
Jami began working on some "Origami Owl" stuff on the computer. She's really enjoying designing & selling this "custom jewelry" and I must say I find it to be pretty neat myself. Being a guy, "pretty neat" is the best it gets when it comes to woman's jewelry :) The cool thing about it is how much you can personalize it from what charms to put inside it, to size, color, types of strapping or chain and so on. A really great idea! If your interested in purchasing any of it, need help with using the website to design what you want or just want some more information about it please feel free to call Jami @ 407-908-1914 She has a program where you can design it "virtually" so you can see what the finished product will look like. Plus theirs ways you can receive free stuff just by hosting an "on-line party". Yep, no need to have people over to the house to host a party :) You wont be disappointed.
Here is a few idea's Jami put together today. These have a "theme"
Florida Love
Harley Davison
On The Road
The Great Outdoors
Now this isn't exactly what they look like, but it gives you the idea.
Oh, I forgot to mention in yesterdays journal entry what we found last night when we went to the bedroom to get ready for bed.
Yep, our cat "Ivy" sleeping in our laundry basket. Anytime we put anything on the bed she must either get in it, or on it and go to sleep. Weirdo cat.
Jami made us nice dinner so we sat inside to eat and watch to TV. Now I've heard that the TV show "Modern Family" is a great show and very funny, but I never watched it till a week or so ago. The first episode we watched about had us in tears it was so funny. I programmed our DVR to record the show including repeats so we've been watching a lot of the older ones lately. I cant believe I haven't been watching this show before now. It is so funny. We actually stayed up till midnight before calling it a night. Tomorrow we have "Truck Weighing's" between 12 & 2, but not much else planned after that.
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