Two Batteries, Please - Sat., Feb. 22

Up at 7:00 a.m. to shower, have breakfast, and ready the 5th wheel to hit the road. Everything was stowed, outside chores done by Bob, inside chores done by me. Bob hooked up the truck to the trailer, we did our outside light checks, walk-around, and made sure all doors were closed/locked. I hopped in the truck, Bob turned the key and r-r-r, r-r-r, r-r-r. Uh-oh, sounds like a dead battery.

Bob walked to the RV park office to ask for a jump (there's a jump cart to help just in case anyone needs it). Bob E. and Ralph came to our aid. Even with the jumper cable attached, there was not much juice to start the truck. Ralph looked in on the passenger side of the engine and found a vacuum pump that wasn't resetting. His thinking was the pump wasn't resetting because it needed juice from the battery. We let the jumper cables charge for a while and, voila, the engine started.

While that was going on, I called Grande Ford in San Antonio where I take my Escape for service. I talked to the Parts Department and confirmed they had two batteries for our truck. Yay! It was 9:30 a.m. The Parts and Service Departments closed at noon, so we went directly to Grande Ford.

We purchased the two batteries. Bob was going to install them. He had the casing off one battery when it was quickly apparent that the bolts on the terminal connectors were locked tight. Off to the Service Department he went. Bob came with the service manager, who brought battery protectant spray and thoroughly wet the connectors. It took two guys from service with power tools to remove the old nuts and bolts. Putting the new batteries back in went much more smoothly. The new batteries are cold crank 850, the old batteries had a cold crank of 700. At 11:30 a.m., we hit the road. Destination today: Ft. Stockton, Texas.

Bob drove a little more than half way and I drove the rest of the way. We checked into our site at 5:15 p.m. The 5er will stay attached to the truck. We plan to go to bed early and get up really early to go through El Paso (horrible traffic!) around 8 a.m. on Sunday morning.

Tomorrow's destination is Deming, NM. Traveling weather today was perfect - sunny and warm. Tonight's sunset was gorgeous from Hilltop RV.

And here's The Beast and Rigamarole...

I'm off to get a few items out of the dryer.

We're having pancakes and eggs for dinner because that's the way we roll. LOL. (Let's see if we really get on the road by 4 a.m.!)

Have a good night all.

Road Warrior Bob -- Tues., July 24

Ft. Stockton, Texas:

Drive, drive, drive, drive, rest area, drive, drive, drive, DQ for dinner. Drive, drive, fill up with diesel. Drive, drive, drive, RV Park. Ahhhhh. Seriously that was our day today.

We left San Antonio around 12:30 p.m. and arrived in Ft. Stockton at 7:30 p.m. Lots of long, straight freeway. Bob is the road warrior...he drove the whole way. I have never pulled the 5th wheel because I've always driven separately in my Escape pod. Guess I'll be learning on this trip. Any words of advice?

We love Hilltop RV Park in Ft. Stockton! The owners K.C. and Jim are precious, so warm and welcoming. They live here and it shows. 

Hard to get it all in one picture.

Art on the buildings.

Metal sculptures at the RV Park.

Another metal sculpture.

After we got our RV hooked up to electricity, water and sewer, and cats fed and watered, we headed into town to go to Walmart and see the roadrunner sculpture. While there, we found a historic driving tour of Ft. Stockton and drove part of it. Ft. Stockton has a long history which is quite interesting. It was on the Butterfield Stage Line and had the third largest fresh water spring in the state of Texas.

Pecos County Courthouse

An interesting store in town.

Heeeeere's Roadrunner...meep, meep.

While we were at Walmart, there was a fiery sunset. When we finished in town it was time for a swim in the RV park pool. So relaxing and we were the only ones in the pool. Nice.

Our RV Park has free wi fi, but the connection is slow.


Bob filed a police report on his stolen laptop and smart phone. When he talked to the police officer, the police didn't seem to think they were after our identity. They think both pieces were stolen for the hardware. Our insurance agent thinks we will get reimbursed for part of the new computer and smart phone since this was a robbery.

Bob got his new computer and smart phone yesterday. Last night he went to work and loaded his new software onto it. This morning, the company I.T. guy made sure Bob's computer could connect to company's server.

Time for bed. We'll be up early for our next adventure.

G'night. Over and lights out.