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[2007] Trailer Roulette.

AwayWeGo

TUG Review Crew: Elite
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Location
McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.
Resorts Owned
Grandview At Las Vegas

[triennial - points]
This weekend we will be in Delaware for Site Selection Day at Port Delmarva, year-round home of our dinky 34-foot CoachMen travel travel that never travels but just stays right there on the postage-stamp-size lot assigned for us to use.

Site Selection Day happens because each year some lots are given up by former users who move away, lose interest, change parks, or pass away (R.I.P.) The sites that become available that way are up for grabs, but only via an orderly procedure based on seniority.

Even though the trailer sites are all approximately the same size, & even though the entire park is so small that none of the sites are remote or inconvenient, certain sites are more to be desired than the rest -- mainly the 1s close to the water or with nice views of the surrounding land & water instead of views of a bunch of other trailers.

The Chief Of Staff & I are way, way down on the seniority list, so chances are our dinky trailer will stay right where it is again this year. The Chief Of Staff's sister already has a prime site right on the circle with a wonderful view of Rehoboth Bay. Our nephew, however (son of The Chief Of Staff's sister), is up there high enough on the seniority list that there is a chance he'll be able to switch sites. So the whole bunch of us will be on the edges of our chairs as the names & available site numbers are called. And The Chief Of Staff & her sister will have their heads together -- figuratively if not literally -- to zero in on the choicest remaining open sites as the process unfolds.

Once Site Selection is all settled, then the Trailer Moving Committee fires up the park tractor & the actual DoSaDo & the physical Right & Left Grand of trailers on the move gets underway. Pretty soon every rig is where it's supposed to be & the people with new lot assignments can get busy leveling & blocking their box trailers & AirStreams for another fun season at The Port.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
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Stood Pat In Trailer Roulette.

Our trailer is still on the same site. Ditto The Chief Of Staff's sister's trailer. But our nephew (son of The Chief Of Staff's sister) moved his from an OK site to a superior site with a nice view of the lagoon, no trailers behind his site, off the main park road between the circle & the clubhouse.

Even though the guys on the tractor committee did the actual trailer moving, lots of preparation beforehand & re-setup afterward were involved. The whole bunch of us pitched in to get that done in short order. No blood was shed, no fingers pinched, no flesh bruised, no serious harm to any people or property all during the move.

At our own dinky 34-foot trailer (The Chief Of Staff's & mine), we had a heck of a time getting the water supply hose connection to quit leaking, & we discovered that the propane-gas water heater no longer works. Fortunately, there's a back-up electric water heater, so nobody had to take a cold shower. Also fortunately, the propane-gas furnace works, so we slept cozy even though night-time temperatures were down in the low 50s.

A friend & neighbor who just came into the park this year had her trailer installed on a site that had been without a trailer for at least 1 full season. Grass & weeds had completely grown over the sewer pipe connection, so before we could get her wastewater drain connected to the sewer we had to use a screwdriver for poka-poka-poka in the ground till we found the sealed-up sewer opening, followed by digga-digga-digga to get access. Fortunately we had 2 pairs of wide-jaw pliers in the hands of 2 men with strong grips for twista-twista-twista to get the drain seal unscrewed.

Saturday evening after most of the trailers were in place, there was a pizza party in the clubhouse & a good time was had by all.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
It all sounds like so much fun!!! I want to join in! <Heavy sigh> Guess we'll have to wait awhile, though. All discretionary funds for the next decade (at least!) are already earmarked for tuition, a new roof, replacement vehicles, etc. You'll just have to enjoy the lagoon and the great outdoors in our stead...

Thanks for sharing the experience. It's a nice life to live vicariously...
:)
 
Alan,
I got a kick out of your description for your 34 ft trailer.

We only have a 30' Cardinal fifth wheel and to me its the size of a palace! Well, except when we travel with our rather large lab, and our rather large cat (with her personal stuff :eek: )!

Ours is on wheels, as in we tow it here and there, mostly there. :wave:

Diane
 
Alan,

Had to stop and read this post ~ for curiosity's sake if nothing else. I love reading your posts. Your descriptions are always so vivid!! Glad all went well, enjoy your commune with nature!!

Sue
 
Thanks for keeping the group informed

I too enjoy Alan's posts, though sometimes wonder if in this case he is just telling us "I'll be away over the weekend."

My 'Chief of Staff', or in our case, the Commander in Chief, also a horn player, and I are checking around our local area- roughly a couple hour drive- for a spot on a body of water, flowing or otherwise, and hopefully populated with edible fishy things, to park our 21.5 foot 5th wheel for the summer. Gosh, you folks with those 30+ footers sound like Lairds of the Manor. Note when they are as small as ours, the .5 foot really matters. Kinda when we were 9 1/2 years old, going on 10. Now at....well, older, those halfs don't seem to mean so much!

Meanwhile back at the ranch... my turn to cook!

Jim Ricks
 
Dinky Is As Dinky Does.

Alan,
I got a kick out of your description for your 34 ft trailer.

We only have a 30' Cardinal fifth wheel and to me its the size of a palace! Well, except when we travel with our rather large lab, and our rather large cat (with her personal stuff :eek: )!

Ours is on wheels, as in we tow it here and there, mostly there. :wave:

Diane
Our nephew's trailer is 35 feet. The park limit is 36 feet, measured from the tip of the hitch in front to the back of the bumper in the rear. So much as a half-inch over & you're out. No 5th wheel trailers -- although there were some AirStream & Avion 6-wheelers in the park for a while, but that's another story. The park started out as an AirStream-only operation, but they had to give that up years ago as box trailers gained in popularity.

Well, to keep our nephew's 35-foot trailer within park limits (36 feet), the factory equipped it with a clever retractable hitch assembly. You simply unbolt the hitch assembly from the forward hitch mounts used for towing & moving, then rebolt the hitch assembly onto the rearward hitch mounts. No problem.

No problem, that is, except that somebody has to get down on the ground under the trailer, with wrenches, for twista-twista-twista. The man elected for that chore was our nephew, who got the job done in a flash -- due in large part no doubt to the expert supervision offered by his father & me & the other old guys standing around watching.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
Busted!

I too enjoy Alan's posts, though sometimes wonder if in this case he is just telling us "I'll be away over the weekend."

My 'Chief of Staff', or in our case, the Commander in Chief, also a horn player, and I are checking around our local area- roughly a couple hour drive- for a spot on a body of water, flowing or otherwise, and hopefully populated with edible fishy things, to park our 21.5 foot 5th wheel for the summer. Gosh, you folks with those 30+ footers sound like Lairds of the Manor. Note when they are as small as ours, the .5 foot really matters. Kinda when we were 9 1/2 years old, going on 10. Now at....well, older, those halfs don't seem to mean so much!

Meanwhile back at the ranch... my turn to cook!

Jim Ricks
Whoa! Twin Falls got horn players? Who knew?

And, yes, telling the (true) Trailer Roulette story was just Uncle Alan's way of saying I'd be off-line over the weekend. You're on to me. So it goes.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
Free Gas

Our friend whose trailer we helped install on its overgrown site at the park (poka-poka-poka & digga-digga-digga so we could get the sewer line connected) found some unwanted items in the storage shed that goes with her site. Some of the stuff went straight into the dumpster en route to Mt. Trashmore. Other stuff was still good, including a mostly full oddball LP gas tank that our friend wanted nothing to do with -- get it out of here, she said. So we took it away for her.

The gas is not oddball, but the tank is -- same height as a regular barbecue-size propane tank, but not as fat. Not only non-compliant with current OPD safety requirements, but also equipped with the old-style POL gas hose connection right there by the valve. Plus, instead of a valve-wheel parallel to the ground & a sideways POL gas hose connection, its POL gas hose connection points straight up & the valve-wheel is perpendicular to the ground -- a real oddball LP gas tank.

Fortunately, Uncle Alan just happened to have on hand a reverse-threaded POL adapter off another old non-compliant empty propane tank. The adapter was just the thing for connecting that oddball tank to our recent-vintage gas barbecue. Being non-compliant just means the tank can't be refilled, not that I can't use up the gas already in it. So tonight we fired up the barbecue grill on free gas & cooked some outstanding beef. Yum.

Steak tastes better grilled on free gas.

Waste not, want not.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
Goodbye Dinky 34-Foot Travel Trailer.

With the recent completion of rugga-rugga-rugga & other fix-up-clean-up-spruce-up activities, The Chief Of Staff sold off our dinky 34-foot travel trailer that never traveled but always just sat there on its postage stamp size lot at our little family-oriented trailer park near Rehoboth Beach DE.

She put lots of great looking large-dimension (pre-rugga) photos of it on eBay, attracted a "best offer" purchaser who bought it sight-unseen and showed up with his family in a big honking F-250 Super Duty diesel-powered crew-cab Ford pick up truck last Saturday all ready to hook it up & tow it back to Oklahoma.

She bought it off eBay a couple of years ago, so it's only fitting that she resold it via eBay.

Some time by mid-July, a dinky 35-foot park model trailer will take the place of our non-traveling travel trailer at the park. The Chief Of Staff & her sister checked it out in person a few weeks back & gave it their seal of approval. The Chief Of Staff was going to let it go, however, because there was too little wiggle room in the seller's asking price (because of the loan balance on the trailer).

Upon further reflection, however, The Chief Of Staff realized she's unlikely to find a park model trailer any time sooon that she likes any better for a lower price. So she decided to go for it, reached agreement on price with the seller, wired the money to the bank holding the note on the trailer, & made arrangements to go get it between now & the middle of July.

That means we have another adventure in store within just a few weeks. So it goes.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
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And we're looking forward to the next installment of "Alan's Dinky Trailer" stories. Really, keep them coming, they're a blast to read! Enjoy the new one.

Regards,

Marty
 
OK -- You Asked For It.

And we're looking forward to the next installment of "Alan's Dinky Trailer" stories. Really, keep them coming, they're a blast to read! Enjoy the new one.

Regards,

Marty
Our trailer adventures (so far) are never as simple & straight-forward as these little stories might lead 1 to believe. For example, our Oklahoma trailer buyers in their big honking F-250 diesel pick up had never towed trailers before & were not properly equipped to cruise the Interstates with their newly bought 34-foot CoachMen hooked up. Mainly, they didn't have the recommended sway-control tension bars needed to fight back against the trailer's tendency to fishtail behind the tow vehicle at speed. Neither did we. We never tow, but just stay right there at the park. (That's partly why we're giving up the travel trailer for a park model.)

Fortunately the park is populated with some knowledgeable old timers who are not stingy with advice & recomendations & practical help. The guy right behind our site, known throughout the park as Mr. AirStream, helped our buyer make a connection with somebody willing to sell off a complete Reese hitch & swaybar set he no longer needed because he sold off his AirStream. That was 1 problem solved.

Next problem -- how to hook up the sway bars. Fortunately, the Reese set was complete. Unfortunately, it was made for AirStream, not CoachMen, so the U-bolts for fastening the bar clamps to the hitch tongue were just a tiny tad too short. No problem. I go roaring off to Lowe's on a quest for bigger U-bolts -- plus nuts & lock washers & flat washers. All the U-bolts at Lowe's are shorter & wimpier, so I buy some threaded rods, plus nuts etc.

Back at the site, Mr. AirStream starts to bend the threaded rods into U-bolts. As it happens, the threaded rods don't bend -- they break. Plan B is to use the shorter lengths of threaded rod as bolts, making shackles to bolt the bar brackets on to the trailer tongue in place of U-bolts. All we need are some flat metal bars the right length & strength, with holes in the right places.

By now other old timers, forming a kind of committee, have shown up offering more advice & coming up with other possibilities. Somebody comes up with a flat bar. Mr. AirStream marks the lengths & hole centers. Somebody comes up with a drill & a hacksaw. Another committee member says Best's Ace Hardware stays in business against competition from Lowe's & Home Depot by stocking items -- possibly including U-bolts -- tht the big stores don't have.

By then The Chief Of Staff shows up & volunteers to head up to Best's & see what they have. She comes back with an assortment of possibilities, none exactly filling the bill. Following other committee suggestions she goes back several more times (receiving amended suggestions en route via cell phone) -- in all about 11 trips through the Ace Hardware check-out.

Inventory shows the nearest we have to the right U-bolts are some that are long enough & tough enough, but too wide at the closed end. A committee guy comes up with a flash of insight. Brilliance is not too strong a word. Use the too-wide U-bolts, he said, but instead of aligning them straight across the steel beam of the trailer tongue, where they're too wide, crisscross them so that the threaded end on the outside of the steel beam goes through a forward bolt hole & the other threaded end goes through a rearward bolt hole. Then put the other oversize U-bolt through the opposite corner bolt holes. If -- if -- the bolts are long enough to fit the extra height needed to cover having the flat side of 1 U-bolt bolt cross over the other, then we're good to go. The bolts were just almost long enough. Tightening down the nuts caused the topmost bolt to bend down just slightly over the top of the bolt that was flat against the top of the steel beam, & that gave just enough length for a nut plus lock washer. Whew!

The place where the U-bolts crossed was right under the propane tank base, so that had to come off. Fortunately the holes lined up & the mounting screws for them were long enough to screw back into the mounting holes, even with the tank base sitting on the crossed U-bolts. The gas tanks just ride an inch higher than before.

While the great minds of the committee were at work on all this, 1 member noticed the Oklahomans sitting there bored -- specially the teenage son & daughter -- so he suggested the parents taken them to see the ocean. They had driven all that way to a Delaware beach town & then had extra time on their hands, so why not? The out-of-towners got in their F-250 & dieseled off somewhere while the committee completed a nifty improvisational installation of the anti-sway tension bars.

With everything mostly together, there was down time till the F-250 got back. Actual distances of where to fasten things depend on how the hitch ball on the truck lines up with the sway bar mountings. Another committee member eliminated the down time by bringing over his hitch, minus truck -- just the hitch -- & fitted that to the trailer as a gauge for setting all the rest of the stuff.

By & by the Oklahomans dieseled up in their F-250, backed into position, & the committee hooked'm up good & proper. Earler in the day the Oklahoma buyer had checked the trailer tire inflation, cranked in the slide-out extensions, etc. I disconnected the waste drain pipes & the fresh water supply. We left the power connected so the family could sit inside in air conditioned comfort instead of hanging around outside in the blazing sun. (It was a stroke of luck that the hitch end of the trailer was in the shade.) Mr. AirStream supervised hooking up the truck-to-trailer electrical connection & went through a safety check of all the trailer signal lights. He also pulled out the outside mirror extensions on the F-250 to maximum width -- a safety feature the Oklahomans may not have known the truck had.

It was getting on toward 5PM when the Oklahomans shifted into Drive & eased on out over the speed-control humps to exit the park. Mr. AirStream walked along beside the trailer hollering out electric brake control adjustment advice till the Oklahomans made their last turn out of the park & began their homeward trip west. I prayed that they would encounter no mishaps -- would cruise trouble-free across the Cheasapeake Bay Bridge & continue in safety all the way home.

They did. The Chief Of Staff got a call from the Oklahomans just to let us know they had been on the road a couple of days & were right then just about 20 minutes from home. No trouble anywhere along the way, they said, only they just couldn't go very fast -- not much more than 65 miles per hours -- & that's why the trip home took so long.

Earlier on the day of all that committee work on the improvisational sway bar installation, The Chief Of Staff got the trailer interior all spic & span while I de-installed the regular household-type flush toilet & re-installed the ThetFord AquaMagic RV-type toilet. The Chief Of Staff shrewdly rented a mini-storage locker in town where we stowed all the stuff out of the travel trailer that we're apt to need later for the park model trailer -- & several trips to mini-storage were sandwiched in between all these other activities.

It's a good thing all this worka-worka-worka is so much fun. Otherwise I would recommend vacationing in luxury timeshares instead.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
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Enjoy you new Vacation Home at Port Delmarva Delaware

Years ago we owned a vacation home in Montego Bay
in North Ocean City, Md near the MD & Delaware line.

We have been thinking about picking up a camper and
putting it down the ocean during the spring & summer
then taking it to Florida during the fall & winter months

Do you know if there are any lots still available for 2007
Can you give me a idea of what the lot rent is going for
at Port Delmarva Are they open seasonal or year round.

Thanks
Marty
 
Alan certainly paints very vivid 'word pictures' of the whole Oklahoman trailer hitching story. What scared the ***** (complete as desired :) ) was the comment about only being able to travel at 65mph with a 34 foot trailer. Speed limit in the UK for trailers is 60 and that always seems to fast to me. :)
 
Oklahoma.

Alan certainly paints very vivid 'word pictures' of the whole Oklahoman trailer hitching story. What scared the ***** (complete as desired :) ) was the comment about only being able to travel at 65mph with a 34 foot trailer. Speed limit in the UK for trailers is 60 and that always seems to fast to me. :)
I'm guessing it's an Oklahoma thing.

Out there it's 55 or so in school zones.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
Port Delmarva.

Do you know if there are any lots still available for 2007 Can you give me a idea of what the lot rent is going for at Port Delmarva Are they open seasonal or year round.
Port Delmarva is strictly seasonal. They shut the water off in the fall & turn it on again in the spring.

Fortunately lot rental at Port Delmava not high -- no more than $1,000 per season, as I recall, & lower for stockholders. The annual rental fee includes water & sewer. Electric power charges are billed separately based on actual meter readings.

Unfortunately there are no vacancies at the park. Not only that, there's a 4- or 5-year waiting list to get in. So it goes.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
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Plug For The Purchaser.

His day job is USAF Master Sergeant & on his own time he's a talented country & western songwriter & performer.

13800297_240x240_FrontCover.jpg

Who'd a-thunk ?

He gave a copy of his CD as a thank-you to each member of the committee of knowledgeable trailer guys who got him all hooked up & good to go.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
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Hello Dinky 35-Foot Park Model Trailer.

This week's trailer adventure consisted of transporting our newly bought dinky 35-foot 2005 park model trailer from Lakewood NJ down to Rehoboth Beach DE via the Cape May NJ & Lewes DE Ferry.

The Chief Of Staff's sister drove the tow vehicle -- an AirStream 190 Class B motor home, which is basically a high-end mini-RV built into a Ford E-350. She not only tows trailers, she knows about anti-sway stabilizer bars & how to put'm on -- in the rain. No rain during the drive up from Cape May. No rain during the drive back down to the ferry terminal. Thirty minutes of el drencho during trailer hook-up. So it goes. (Even so, hooking up in the rain is much to be preferred over driving in the rain.)

We feared we'd be late for the 4:15 ferry, & if the departure had actually been at 4:15 we might have missed the boat. As it was, the scheduled departure was actually 4:30, so we got on the boat with minutes to spare. The loadmaster directed the van-trailer rig right up front, 2nd in line in the center row -- & thus 1 of the 1st off at the ferry terminal in Lewes DE.

A park director met us when the 2005 trailer reached the park, about 6:15. After the trailer was inspected & found to be OK with park rules & regulations governing style & size, The Chief Of Staff's sister's husband got behind the wheel of the B-van, started it up, put it in Reverse, & snicked that 35-foot Hy-Line trailer right into position with amazing precision exactly on the chalk marks indicating the correct place on the site. He made it look easy. Who'd a-thunk ?

The newer trailer is basically OK, although there are some issues remaining to resolve -- i.e., fix defunct air conditioning, find & install missing plugs in water intake line, replace plastic RV-style toilet with regular china household-style toilet, replace full-size mattress with queen-size mattress, level & stabilize the trailer on the site, etc. It's always something.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

PS: Pictures of the old trailer mentioned on this thread in Post No. 10 are gone -- erased from the Internet only to conserve server space, bandwidth, whatever they call it. Sorry about that.
-AC.​
 
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Thanks for the update. It certainly sounds like it went a lot smoother than the Oklahoma hook-up party. Have fun!

Marty
 
The Good News & The Bad News. (And More Good News & More Bad News.)

Fortunately, the trailer air conditioning is working OK now. Unfortunately, it took a service call from an RV maintenance & repair company to get it going. (I'll know how unfortunate it was once we get the bill.)

Fortunately, we found the little plastic plugs for the water intake line drains. Unfortunately, we had already installed make-shift brass plugs. Fortunately, the brass plugs worked -- kind-of. Unfortunately, they dripped slightly. Fortunately, I was able to tighten the brass plug, gently & carefullly. Unfortunately, that's all it took to break the plastic socket the plug screws into. Fortunately, Home Depot had some little brass valves just the right size to insert into the plastic tubes & clamp in place where the ruined drain socket used to be.

Fortunately, our dinky 34-foot 2005 Hy-Line trailer came with a set of 4 leveling jack-stands. Unfortunately, the trailer is still semi-bouncy even with those 4 installed on top of stacks of concrete blocks near the 4 corners of the trailer. Fortunately, we still have lots more concrete blocks we can use to shore up several mid-points under the trailer. Unfortunately, we don't have any more jack-stands. Fortunately, there's a Wal*Mart just up the street.

Fortunately, the plumbing geometry & fittings of the dinky 34-foot 2005 Hy-Line trailer are OK to accommodate a household-style tank-type china toilet (in place of the nasty factory-installed squatty little plastic boat-RV standard equipment trailer potty). Unfortunately, The Chief Of Staff decided we needed a new & slightly taller china toilet (instead of the perfectly good china toilet we de-installed & saved out of our old trailer). Fortunately, Lowe's had exactly the right new toilet, in stock. Unfortunately, their price was $3 more than the same item over at Home Depot. Fortunately, Loew's lived up to its advertised policy of guaranteeing the lowest price on everything they sell -- not only selling at the competitor's lower price but also taking an additional 10% off -- tax-free (at their Delaware store).

Fortunately, removing the RV potty & installing the china toilet in its place were a snap (relatively speaking). Unfortunately, I had forgotten to hand-tighten 1 of the water supply connections in the adapter between the trailer water line & the toilet water supply tube. Fortunately, hand tightening the connection stopped the leak. Unfortunately, by then water was all over the floor. Fortunately, cleaning up the water also cleaned up the bathroom floor. Unfortunately, residual moisture in the cleaned-up area made it harder to tell whether the new installation was leakproof -- upstream & downstream & all round. Fortunately, after I got everything cleaned & dried, there were no leaks anywhere. Not only that, The Chief Of Staff is happy with the new installation.

Fortunately, the trailer bedroom accommodates the queen-size mattress that we saved out of the old trailer. Unfortunately, the queen mattress was in a mini-storage locker. Fortunately, the mini-storage place was just a mile or 2 away. Unfortunately, storm clouds were gathering. Fortunately, the rain held off while we tied the mattress to the top of the car & headed back to the trailer park. Unfortunately, the rain caught up with us halfway back to the trailer. Fortunately, the mattress did not soak all the way through. Unfortunately, the upside of the mattress got plenty wet. Fortunately, the rain quit by the time we got back to the trailer. Unfortunately, the mattress was way too wet for sleeping. Fortunately, we were able to prop it up inside the trailer to start drying out. Unfortunately, it was going to take a l-o-n-g time to dry. Fortunately, we were able to sleep on the double-bed mattress that came with the trailer. Unfortunately, we had to go get that & put it back in place.

Fortunately,the queen mattress had pretty much dried out overnight. Unfortunately, it was still damp. Fortunately, the weather that day was bright & sunny, so we took the mattress outside & propped it up on lawn chairs for a morning & afternoon of exposure to the brilliant sunshine to dry it out good & proper.

It's always something.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​




 
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Erased In The Interests Of Avoiding Duplication.

Content Erased After I Discovered The Same Thing Went In Twice.

( Appropriate for an entry on the topic of doofusness, no? )
 
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End-Of-Season Doofusness At The Trailer Park.

The Chief Of Staff & I just got back from this season's last hurrah at our dinky 35-foot non-traveling trailer, closing it up & locking it down & getting it ready for the RV folks to get it all winterized. While we were away, more evidence of my doofus nature popped up, as though any more were needed.

I was on antibiotics following tooth extraction & implant & discovered -- after we were 3 hours from home at the recreational trailer park -- that I had left the prescription bottle at home. After worrying about it for an hour or so, I went to the prescription desk at a supermarket in the same chain as the pharmacy that dispensed my forgotten meds. After I described my predicament, the pharmacist got on the phone, established contact with the appropriate person, & fixed me up with a partial refill. I got through that particular doofus experience with just 1 missed dose.

A few days later, we were all packed up & locked up & headed home till next spring. I had told the RV winterizing folks that I'd leave the trailer unlocked for them, with the key inside on the kitchen table so they could lock up & send me the key after they got the trailer all freeze-proofed. That would have been fine -- if I hadn't locked the trailer in my usual doofus way before getting in the car to drive home, with the trailer key in my pocket.

We left a message with the winterizing folks, outlining Plan B for getting access to the trailer, which will be more tedious for them than just going in through an unlocked door & locking up afterward. But adaptability is required when dealing with a doofus, so there we are.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
Trailer Roulette 2008 . . .

. . . in some ways was a replay of Trailer Roulette 2007.

The Chief Of Staff & I didn't move our trailer.

Chief Of Staff's sister did not move hers.

However, there were some moves.

Our nephew was able to pick a splendid new site -- right across the road from his old site -- with a great view of Rehoboth Bay. On clear days the view extends all the way to the bay side of Dewey Beach DE. Moving across the road takes just as much preparation ahead of time & just as much work afterward as moving from 1 end of the park to the other. Fortunately, all that was accomplished with no injuries to anybody & no damage except 1 broken drinking glass that rolled off a shelf.

Our son & daughter-in-law got a site in the park this year, so their trailer moved from its temporary parking place to a spot on the row right behind ours & just a few spaces up from ours -- easy for our grandson to come visit Papa Alan & Grandma Carol when everybody's down at The Port.

Our nephew's mother-in-law also moved up the waiting list & got a spot, & likewise her trailer was moved from a temporary site to a place of its own in the interior of the park.

Once we got our nephew's trailer all ( -- i.e., mostly -- ) squared away, everybody set about getting our son's trailer & our nephew's mother-in-law's trailer likewise squared away. None of these travel trailers actually travel, so they get stabilized with stacks of concrete blocks & rigid sewer connections, not just crank-down stabilizer jacks & flex-drain waste lines.

"Squared away" means different things to different campers. To me, it means lined up, leveled, blocked, connected, etc. To others in the clan, it means the satellite dishes are aimed accurately for optimal Direct-TV reception.

Just because we're all "camping" doesn't mean we're roughing it in any significant way.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​



 
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Drilla-Drilla-Drilla (Non-Dental Division).

For awning-anchoring projects at our dinky non-traveling travel trailer (The Chief Of Staff's & mine) & at our nephew's swankier trailer 1/4 mile down the scenic roadway through the park, it was necessary to drill some half-inch holes near the edges of the concrete pads next to the trailers.

Thinking ahead, I got out all my masonry bits. I also got a coupon booklet from the outlet mall office & headed over to the Black & Decker outlet store with my coupon good for $5 off any $40 purchase.

As it happened Black & Decker had "reconditioned" 6.5-amp variable-speed reversible hammer drills on sale for $39.97. I don't know what's "reconditioned" about their "reconditioned" merchandise, except that it comes in plainer cardboard cartons. Inside, it looks the same as the all-new equivalent merchandise. And it's guaranteed 2 years -- replacement within 90 days, repair or replacement (their choice) after that.

So beside the 6.5-amp hammer drill, I bought a new 1/2-inch masonry bit to go with the bits I'd already collected. Then I drove back to the park & got to drilling.

After 2 holes through old concrete, the drill chuck would no longer hold its grip on the bit. By re-tightening the key-style chuck every half-minute or so, I managed to drill 2 more holes. Then I thought about that 2-year guarantee & took the hammer drill back to the Black & Decker outlet store. The guy behind the counter gave me a new 1 with minimal hassle -- just gave my phone number & signed a receipt, then I was good to go with my replacement "reconditioned" hammer drill, plus 2 more 1/2-inch masonry bits I bought just in case.

The guy behind the counter said, "Here's your receipt for your new 2-year guarantee."

"Thanks," I said. "I might need that because I'm going to beat hell out of this drill."

Back at the park with my replacement hammer drill deployed, I refined my drilling technique. Instead of starting out with the 1/2-inch bit installed, I started by drilling a narrower hole to the right depth, then widening the starter hole by using a slightly larger bit, then doing the same thing again with the 1/2-inch bit spinning.

I got 2 more half-inch holes done & 2 more 1/4-inch starter holes drilled before the replacement hammer drill just quit. The chuck gripped the bits OK, but the drill would no longer turn. Fiddling with the forward-reverse switch got it going for another second or 2, then nothing.

Back to Black & Decker with the 2nd defunct drill & the 2nd receipt. Then back to the park armed with my 3rd 6.5-amp "reconditioned" variable speed hammer drill. Hammer drill No. 3 kept on drilling, so I was able to finish all the holes & place anchors in each 1 & use lag screws to bolt down the awning support poles.

A park neighbor 1 trailer row away offered to bring his hammer drill from home -- a $350 power tool he got from Home Depot or Lowes on sale for $175 or so. It's 13.5-amps, he said, & drills through concrete like butter. A Black & Decker 6.5-amp hammer drill is obviously just a pale imitation. However that may be, we finally completed our drill job done even though it took three -- 3 -- Black & Decker hammer drills to get it done.

Who'd a-thunk ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
Trailer Roulette -- 2009.

We're still in the same spot we were in last year & the year before that.

(Physical spot as in trailer site, I mean, not spot as in predicament or tricky situation.)

Ditto everybody else in our circle of friends & extended family.

Not much excitement that way -- but lots less work.

Click here for the web site of our dinky park (only 147 travel trailer sites).

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
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