2001-06-17 - I am still at the RV camp at Waco chomping at the bits to be back on the road. It has been interesting in a way, watching RVs of all sizes and shapes come in and see how they act. Most are nice people, many are just interesting.

There was a young lady of about thirty five pull in along side of me that was having all sorts of problems, she did not know how to back a trailer so I helped her with that before she hit somebody, especially me. It was apparent after talking to her that she was running away from something. She had purchased property in Wyoming sight unseen in the middle of nowhere so she could be by herself. She had with her daughter, a twenty month old little girl that had several learning disabilities and while a happy little girl was obviously suffering from multiple birth defects.

She knew nothing about the trailer she was pulling, I got her refrigerator to work, filled her fresh water tanks that she didn't know how to do, showed her how to empty her tanks and why her batteries weren't charging while on the road. I even had to show her the faucet valve so she could take a shower. Mother herself was taking all sorts of medications for various maladies and was smoking pot to avoid vomiting She had Lyme disease during pregnancy without knowing she was pregnant and had a real guilt about that. I even showed her how to use her fly casting equipment. She was convinced however she would be able to cope and she would catch sufficient fish to met her protein requirements. I wish her luck, she will need it. Not everybody was that far out however.

I caught up again with the computer, I will download and upload as soon as possible. My charger for the cell phone acted up and apparently blew the fuse for the 12 volt outlet so I cannot charge it. I also cannot use the laptop unless I am hooked up to power. Depending how long it takes to repair Tiny I just may push on to Theresa's and not do the volksmarches in Kansas and Missouri and then Theresa's on back home after a few days to recover.

06-18 - I have spent most of the day on the computer trying to have what is on the web agree with what was in the trip report. Usually it is easier to make a new trip report from the web site. It doesn't take that long but it is boring and my hands hurts after a few hours from using the mouse continually.

I am know camped out behind the garage, have power and water and it isn't costing me anything except time. I did get use Internet and upload/download e-mail so I guess it is not too bad. When I get too bored I can walk to Walmart which only a half mile away. I would much rather be driving but such is life. The one young chap did replace the fuse so I could charge the cell phone so it is not all bad. Gasoline is about 1.49 here, the cheapest in a long time.

06-19 - Thrilling time here in the middle of the American Heartland. The wheat grew and inch today because of the rain that we had. The people here got to Tiny late in the afternoon and I thought that the problem would be cured. However, when I went out on the road the same thing happened and I was dragged back here to the garage. It seems the problem went deeper than they expected. They will have to take the heads off and have them refurbished. I will be here until the end of the week at least, if there is a backlog at the machine shop I could get stuck for the weekend.

I did walk downtown and bought a bottle of Kahlua, strictly for therapeutic purposes of course. I spent a good portion of the day cleaning Tiny, the dust never stops. Every afternoon so far there has been a whiz bang thunderstorm which I do not completely appreciate, it rattles my nerves and sours the milk. At least I was able to purchase some new printer cartridges and a power unit for the USB scanner so I continue working on the computer stuff that is backlogged.

06-20 - Well, the heads were removed, an all day job and with any luck they will be back tomorrow afternoon. I would suspect that it will be just an all day affair putting Tiny back together. Then maybe I can get back on the road. I did another walk downtown, mailed a package to a friend. The highlight of the day was stopping at Subway and having one of their sandwiches. How thrilling!

We had another thunderstorm this afternoon, the worst so far. It dropped quite a it of rain whereas those in the past there was very little rain involved.

06-21 - The heads went out but did not get back until just about closing. The cost was just under $500 but Tiny should not require a valve job for a while. Apparently the high altitude did have a factor in this. Four valves had to be replaced, all the valve guides and seats were replaced. I hope it will not take the same amount of time to re-install the heads and that I get out of here earlier tomorrow. I think I will stay up very late this evening so I can take a nap tomorrow and drive later tomorrow night. I would like to make to TJ's Saturday afternoon. I think it is about 550 miles. The directions from the Interstate do not seem to be that difficult.

06-22 - I went back on the road at 1430, arrived in Davenport Iowa at 2230 and will spend the night here at the Flying J Truck stop. I am tired but delighted to be back on the road. I should be at TJ's before 0900, it is less than two hundred miles.