Buckhorn

We did it. We left. Had a quiet restful night. Got up nice and early. Went birding with Dennis. Then got ready to leave. It's funny how much longer it takes to leave after you've been there for a week than it does for an overnight stop. Judy got her hair washed, we got the barbeque put away, the bag of oranges in the cabinet, the chairs back in the bin, the boats back up on the car and tied down, the utilities all unhooked, the slides in, the jacks up, the suspension back up, and backed out. Judy stood outside and made sure I missed the car, the shelter, and the tree. Said goodbye to Rick and Angie. Then we drove a quarter mile to the dump station so we could start out empty. Then we drove a mile to the gas station so we could start out full. Then we drove twenty miles to the propane station so we could start out with that full too. Drove twenty miles to make one more stop. Then it was time for lunch. The first day out never covers much ground. And besides that, Judy is moody. She doesn't like the trip back home as much as she likes the trip down. I sure don't want to drive late today, until one of us gets tired and cranky.

The propane tank still read half full, but we want to be sure to have enough heat for that Colorado snow.

I was crawling around under the Freightliner a few days ago, and I noticed that there are no springs under there at all. There are air bags holding the whole thing up, but how can you do that with no metal at all? Leafs? Coils? Looks empty.

The reason I was crawling around under there is a longer story. Maybe it won't take longer to tell, but it has gone on for months. It has to do with fueling. There is a notice beside the fuel fill hole. It says "drain water from the water/fuel separator after each fill up. See owner's manual" I've never had a diesel before. What does that mean? I could look it up, but I had an easier solution. I asked the guy I was buying it from what that meant. He said he didn't know but he didn't think it mattered. I thought it probably did matter, but if it hadn't been done for two years anyway, it probably wasn't urgent. I looked around for something that looked like a water/fuel separator, but couldn't find anything. After a few weeks of keeping an eye out for it, I decided to make a careful search. Nothing. I was desperate, so I looked it up in the owner's manual. It said: "drain water from the water/fuel separator after each fill up." See operator's manual." That took care of that for a while. Next effort, I dug through all the paper we got with this thing and found the operators manual for the Freightliner. It said: "drain water from the water/fuel separator after each fill up." It went on to describe the water/fuel separator as a doohickey that had a glass bowl on it with a screw fitting on the bottom. If there is water in the bowl, you open the fitting to drain the water out. It said they couldn't tell me where it was because the final manufacturer, that would be Fleetwood, got to locate it wherever they wanted. I searched the vehicle again. Nothing. This trip, I decided to get serious. Judy called Fleetwood for me. They have incredible customer service. You call them and tell them your vehicle number. They call your vehicle up on the computer and tell you anything you want to know about your unit. We called. Roland answered. He looked us up. He said it was located under the vehicle. I looked under it. He said no. Way under. Attached to the frame. I crawled under. Cell phone in hand, I crawled while he described. It's on the outside of the frame, passenger side, two feet behind the front wheel. It's not there. No. Not the front wheel, the rear axle. Two feet behind the rear axle. It's not there. What's it look like? It's a doohickey with a glass bowl. From under the motorhome, on my back, on the cell phone I asked him, "Are you sure I'm supposed to be on my back under the motorhome in the gas station every time I fill up to do this?" He mumbled.

I never found it. I gave up. Again.

Then I met the guy next to us at Goose Island, from Ohio, towing a travel trailer with a diesel pickup. We talked about lots of stuff. We talked about the separator. I described it to him. He said sure, it probably looked like that. But it could be inside a plastic housing. Judy looked in the engine compartment in the back and found something neither one of us recognized. He identified it as the separator. It doesn't have a glass bowl showing. It doesn't have a screw on the bottom. It is enclosed in a black plastic canister with a black lever on one side, and a short drain hose attached. He showed us how to use it. We don't have to get under the motorhome to get at it. We don't even have to lean over. A perfect solution, even if it did take a long time to get to. Now the Bounder has been properly burped. Wonder if I should call Fleetwood and tell them where it is?

I was wrong. It did take longer to tell.

Bill is about ready to leave on his Spring Training Trip. He'll leave just before I get back from my trip. Let's go for the record. How long can we keep at least one brother in the air at all times?

Stopped for the night at a private RV park we like. If you're ever passing through the Texas Hill Country and are looking for a full hookup private RV park convenient to the freeway, we recommend Buckhorn Lake Resort. Stream. Lake. Ponds. Swans. Stocked with fish. No fishing license required. Perfectly level, well separated sites. Very nice. It's at exit 501 on Interstate 10.

Oh no. I didn't get to the showerhead, hot mirrors, Buddy at Tackle town, GPS rest stops, or the Lazy Daze. Ok, I'll do the Lazy Daze. There's a thirty-footer here. He was towing. I watched it from a distance and was struck by how small the wheels look. It's hard to imagine those wheels supporting enough brakes to provide a lot of stopping power. Especially towing. They're regular Class C size wheels. Class A wheels are a little larger. Diesel wheels are larger still. Guess they're all proportional to the weight of the vehicle. I looked again. I think what else makes the wheels look small is that it was wearing fender skirts. I never noticed that before. The Lazy Daze has fender skirts. How about that? A flashback to the fifties.

A 250 mile day.