Where does the day go to? Sometimes I look around me, and I realize it’s almost bedtime, and I have no idea what I did all day long!
Yesterday was a good example. We woke up and stayed in bed for a half hour or so, talking about our plans for the next few weeks, and just enjoying each others’ company. Somebody knocked on the door, but we didn’t go see who it was. Our rule has always been, if the curtain over our door is closed, we don’t want to be disturbed, whether it’s 8 a.m., noon, or whenever. Yes, I know we sleep in later than most RVers we know, but then again, most of them are not up working at 1 or 2 a.m. I figure if I don’t bother them at midnight, they should respect my privacy at noon. 🙂
Once we were up and about, I spent some time answering the usual load of e-mail, including a bunch congratulating me on Big Lake hitting 30,000 copies in sales this month, and checking a few blogs to see what our RVing friends are up to. I also called my cousin Beverly in Tucson to say hello and check up on her. We’re really looking forward to seeing Bev when we get to Arizona in a few weeks.
My friend Orv Hazelton called from California while I was talking to Bev, so I called him back and we talked for a while about RVing, our upcoming Arizona Gypsy Journal rally, and life in general.
Next, I called Cummins Coach Care in Ocala and made an appointment to take our Winnebago in on Tuesday to have them look at the heater core. Several people have suggested getting the existing core repaired instead of buying a new one, but others say the core is aluminum and can’t be soldered. We’ll see what the mechanic says after they look at it.
I took the trash out, and while I was out and about, I took advantage of the nice morning to walk a few extra rows through the campground, saying hello to a few people here and there, and pausing to chat with a couple.
Since it was near the end of the month, the folks here at the office wanted everybody to settle their bills so they could get their accounting started, so I stopped in and paid our bill through Monday of next week, and promised them we’d try to make it over to the New Year’s Eve party at the Activity Center. If it’s like many of the RV parks we’ve been in on New Year’s eve, the festivities will probably wind down about 10 p.m. 🙂
At least this year, we (hopefully) won’t have to worry about stray bullets coming down through our roof, like we did a couple of times in Apache Junction, Arizona, where New Years Eve sounded like a combat zone with all of the idiots shooting their guns off in the air. The numbskulls never seem to realize that what goes up must come down, and a falling bullet can be lethal.
A few years ago, a friend of ours was working as a tech in an RV garage somewhere here in Florida, and when the crew came back to work after New Year’s Day, they discovered a bullet laying on the carpet of a motorhome parked inside the shop. Inspection showed that the bullet had come through the roof of the shop and the roof of the RV. Imagine if that had been the roof of your RV. Maybe the roof over your bedroom?
Back home, I wrote for a while, and then it was time to pick up our friend Al Hesselbart to run into Brooksville to dinner at our favorite Florida Chinese buffet, Buffet City. The food was great, as always, the conversation was good, and we had a very enjoyable meal. I also gave Al a sample bundle of the Gypsy Journal to drop off when he and Bob and Rita Meredith go to the bus rally in Arcadia today.
When we got home from dinner, I knocked out another 2,800 words on the Big Lake sequel, and before I knew it, it was almost midnight. I wrote this blog post, and got it ready to post. and that was it. An hour here, an hour there, and the day is over!
Thought For The Day – A fool tells you what he will do; a boaster tells you what he has done; the wise man does and says nothing.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Just finished reading “Big Lake”. Great read and I can’t wait for the sequel. Bargain for 99 cents!
Now Marilyn will read it too.
Good job Nick!
We wish you all the success in the world.
Have a great day.
Life is Good!
WOW, 30,000 copies this month! Averaging over 1,000 copies per day!
Great going Big Guy!
Butch
Finished Big Lake. It was fantastic. Can’t wait for the next one.
A stray bullet hit a man while sitting at his table about 4 or 5 years ago. This was at Indian Waters RV resort in Indio, CA. So it does happen.
Now imagine you’re an LEO in a big city and imagine being shot at during your New Year’s Eve shift for the last two years. This is what has happened to our son. Guns are used the wrong way all over this country.
We cannot understand why anyone with a half a brain would shoot a gun into the air to welcome a new year. We have heard them in almost every state we have been in. Last year here in TX a idiot shot a gun in the air and it ended up killing his own five year old son who was asleep in his upstairs room. He was convicted of manslaughter. Congratulation on 30,000 copies of big lake selling. Have a safe New Year and we hope to see you soon.
Congrats on BIG LAKE. Next time I am at the library in Conroe, TX, I am going to ask if they can stock your book (just to see what they will say!).
“Our rule has always been, if the curtain over our door is closed, we don’t want to be disturbed, whether it’s 8 a.m., noon, or whenever.”
That’s rude! Maybe if you went to sleep at a regular time, you’d be available at a regular time like the rest of the world. I have come by your RV twice, and both times the curtains were closed and nobody answered when I knocked.
Cathy S. is proof you can’t fix stupid. Take a look around Cathy, not everyone has to look the same or act the same or eat the same things. Why should anyone else conform to your timetable? I guess you never learned to play nice in kindergarten and you still don’t know how.
Cathy S. Don’t be upset about Nick sleeping in as he finds it best to write late at night. He is a wordsmith and is making lots of money writing and selling his books. Congrats Nick on 30,000! Just keep on writing and making tons of money!
Hey Nick, We were at Bushnell about 5 years ago, and that is exactly what did happen a bullet came though the roof of a fifth wheel and landed on the bed,luckily the couple was at the rec center. So you might want to reconsider that 10pm crap and party all night.
“Our rule has always been, if the curtain over our door is closed, we don’t want to be disturbed, whether it’s 8 a.m., noon, or whenever.”
The only thing rude about this is the fact that Cathy S knocked on the door when the curtain was pulled. You don’t do that to anyone. Shame on you Cathy.
JC
Al,
Now maybe you know what the “S.” stands for, or since she said that she did it twice, it could be “Slow Learner.”
Al says:
December 30, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Cathy S. is proof you can’t fix stupid.
Loved Big Lake and I am not surprised at its success. I’m sure the sequel will be just as popular. But price it higher Nick. You deserve to be rewarded for your effors.
We are also night owls and sleep in. We will not answer the door if the shade is down. That does not make me rude. When the shade goes up on the windshield that means we are ready to pretend we like you! LOL
Congrats on 30,000 ! Wish I had a kindle so I could read it. I like to hold and fondle my books.
About 10 years ago we were in Orlando at the fairgrounds over New Year’s. The guy in the office told us that guns would be going off on New Year’s eve. Boy did they! First little ping,ping pings. Then they got bigger and bigger guns. The whole neighborhood around was shooting guns. We did not get hit but boy, that was not a fun time at all.
Ring in a safe New Year! Have a healthy one too.
If I were you Nick and Terry, I could do without “friends” like Cathy S. And to you Cathy S., that is a great way to make a good impression on people, said sarcastically of course.
Cathy S., c’mon! Ya gotta give Nick and Terry the time that they deserve for what they want to do in their home, and I’m thinking you’d want the same, right? It might be selfish of them to keep their blinds over their door till whenever they want, and that’s ok for them to do. But it’s not rude. If it weren’t for our doggies needing to go out in the morning, we’d do the same thing ourselves.
Happy New Year!
“I have come by your RV twice, and both times the curtains were closed and nobody answered when I knocked”…..lucky for Nick and Terry!
Nick, congrats on the outstanding book sales numbers!
I’ll reserve comment on the stupidity of the “rude” remark but suffice it to say that is why I hate being places where there are many other people around. The more I know about people, the more I like my cats. Wherever I am, whatever time of the day it is, no matter what I am doing, chances are I do not care to be disturbed. If I want company, I’ll make the invite.
In regards to your heater core issues… don’t even consider repairing the leaky one. It’s not worth it. The largest part of the bill is going to be labor, not parts. If it leaks now and is repaired, it WILL leak again. It’s currently leaking at the weakest spot and repairing that will only make cooling system pressure go to work on the next weakest spot.
Radiators and heater cores are not the heavy copper and brass ones like were in our daddy’s cars. They’re now thinner material and some are even aluminum and plastic.
I’m a “wanna know why” guy and, having spent a fair portion of my life crawling around, “planes, trains and automobiles,” I learned a few things. Like a good physician, I learned to cure the cause, not treat the symptoms.
The most common causes of heater core leaks are too high a flow rate, neglected coolant that has lost it’s ability to protect the cooling system and electrolysis. If the core is leaking at the inlet tube or the area where it connects, the coolant flow rate is too high and erosion caused the leak. This requires the installation of a flow restrictor ahead of the inlet.
Coolant should be replaced every few years, using a vacuum-fill exchanger that has the ability to back-flush the cooling system, to flush out scale and/or rust. Only a vacuum-fill exchanger can get all the old coolant, trash and air out of the system. The coolant itself doesn’t wear out but the protective additives do and rust, scale and all manner of nasty crud accumulates. That all needs to be cleaned out, from time to time and fresh coolant installed.
In regards to electrolysis; the cooling system should be checked to see if it’s a path to ground for stray voltage, caused by a bad ground. This can be done by warming the engine, running it at about 2000 RPM and dipping a voltmeter probe into the coolant (without touching any metal parts). The voltage reading should be less than 0.3v. If it’s higher, you’ve got a bad ground someplace and will need further investigation to locate it.
Hopefully, the techs at the place you’re going to will be knowledgeable enough to know how to isolate a bad ground, if that’s what it turns out to be. They’ll need to look at both AC and DC systems, the engine, chassis and accessory systems to find the culprit(s).
Good luck.
Paul
PS Oh yeah… One more thing. Once the heater core is replaced, don’t think you can prevent future electrolysis erosion by grounding the heater core. At first blush, it seems like a good idea but will only cause your cooling system to become a pseudo-ground and encourage electrolysis if a future ground problem should develop, which is what we’re trying to cure in the first place.
Just check for stray voltage when you have the cooling system checked and flushed every couple years, from now on. 😉