On 12/4/10, we were again visting at Ginger and Bobs. Ted, Levi, Dru and Jennifer had made plans to go to the gun range. They had lots of fun, and shot up lots of ammo. Before they left, Levi's son Jack learned to ride a 2-wheel bike without training wheels. Big day for Jack and Levi. Dru enjoyed jumping a ramp while his parents were gone. Nelda's son Wyman stopped by to pick of Nelda and dad's vehicle to move her to another Rehab facility. She had progressed to a point she couldn't stay at the Rehab hospital any longer. Dad, Ginger, Dru, Jack and I visited Nelda after she arrived at Sage Brook, which is near Ginger's home. As of the day of this posting (12/9/10) she is improving every day. I just talked to her this evening, and she is doing lots of rehab daily plus extra walking with her walker. She and Dad aren't sure whether they will be able to attend her grandaughter's wedding out of state that is scheduled for New Year's Eve.
We are very happy with the repair work by McQueeney Collision. They began work the day we dropped off the keys. Motorhome was completed by the date promissed and looks like new. They were able to repair the basement door in house, and match all the paint colors on the RV. The employees at this shop are all very knowledgeable, friendly and answered all our questions each time we visited to check on the progress. We spent the 11 days during repairs at the Hampton Inn & Suites in New Braufels. Nice accomodations, especially the hot cookie treats every evening. We would highly recommend McQueeney Collision to any one in the area needing repairs.
We arrived in New Braunfels, TX on Monday afternoon, 11/8/10. Dropped
off the motor home at McQueeney Collision and checked into a local hotel. Repairs began the next morning. Took these pictures today. Rear cap is in primer, yeah!! We hope repairs will be complete by this time next week. At least expect to be back in Marble Falls before Thanksgiving. We have been checking out the local restaurants. Lunch today at Jason's Deli, really good food. Last night Chili's had free meal for veterans, the night before we hadbuffet at Schobels Restaurant. We so happy to see work in progress on the RV.
We spent about two weeks late September early October in Marble Falls TX area. Enjoyed several visits with Dad and Nelda. Also Edith visited them over a long weekend and we all got together for dinner. We finally received the medications Ted had ordered from the VA on 10/4, so we decided to head east toward Louisiana to find some casinos while we were waiting for the RV dealership to make the repairs on the RV. We spent the night in Whispering Pines RV park in Tyler, Texas. Made me a little nervous when the park was full of pine trees. The park was okay, but not sure we will stop there on the way back. We have found several casinos in NW Louisiana on the Red River. Having fun, not winning much, but enjoyed the free buffets at Horseshoe Casino and Hotel last night and this morning. Will stay here two more days then head back to Texas.
We had a great time in Woodland Park area seeing Pikes Peak and visiting Cripple Creek; however, the RV park where we stayed was an older park, with lots of mature trees, and RV spaces set up in a random order. So the morning of 9/11/2010, after having breakfast and stowing everything, we were ready to leave the park. First the automatic levelers were contrary and took awhile resetting so we could start our drive. Then Ted noticed air was escaping, not building up pressure so we couldn't drive without brakes. Luckily Ted is very good with mechanical issues, and figured out how to get the air pressure to hold. Then the real issues began. While driving out of the assigned RV space, Dorothy was watching on the driver side and apparently the lower edge of back cap on passenger side of the RV caught on landscape timbers that were piled quite high between the RV spaces. We heard a pop and thought it was the antenae brushing the limbs in the upper trees. We didn't realize the damage right away on the rear cap. It was a really tight turn between the irregular RV spaces. Dorothy was now watching at the front on the passenger side and a pine tree was in Ted's blind spot on the driver's side. Another camper saw we needed help and came over to guide Ted through the tight area of the park. We then discovered the awning of slide on driver's side had a deep scratch in the paint, and there was a definite crunch in one of the basement doors in the same area, on the lower portion of the RV. Those damages were from the pine tree. For those of you who know us well, Ted handled the "accident" quite well. When Ted came to the back of the RV to hook up the jeep, we discovered the damage on the rear passenger cap. We're not sure if any damage has been done to the ladder on the back of the RV, or inside the basement door. The slide works fine. We hooked up the jeep and finally started down the mountain toward New Mexico. Woodland Park, Colorado is close to 9000 feet elevation so we couldn't have made the drive if the air pressure hadn't held, because we would have had no brakes. We put the accident behind us and figured we'll see what the insurance company and RV repair site says. At lunch that day, when Dorothy reached into an upper cupboard for chips, a box of cookies crashed down onto the table. Unfortunately Ted had a full glass of milk poured, so we had milk all over the table, chair, and carpet. We looked at each other and laughed. We didn't think our day could get much worse and thankfully, it didn't. We have since called our insurance agent and they will be sending a representative to the RV park to meet us in Marble Falls, for an estimate of the damage. On a positive note, no one was hurt, the damage can be repaired, and we're really glad we didn't make the upgrade to a newer RV in Albuquerque. We came very close to making the trade up, but decided it wasn't the right time. We spent 1 night in Las Vegas, NM and 2 days, 3 nights in Rio Rancho NM and had some fun at the local casinos. We are spending tonight in a KOA near Carlsbad, NM, then will be on our way back to Texas.
