A Little Road Trip

Made a little trip up to Niagara Falls since we'd never been there before. Very nice trip up. Couldn't ask for better weather. It did rain on us the first 300 miles of our trip so our truck and camper got very dirty after I'd spent a day or so cleaning them up. The trees really started to change colors as we were going thru Tennessee and got even more colorful the further north we drove.

Trip started September 27, Thursday from Lovington, NM. We drove to Comanche, Tx to visit my mom and spend the night. Friday we got up and drove to Little Rock, Ar.

 Bridge from North Little Rock to Little Rock

Camped out by the river in North Little Rock

Saturday - September 29

Camped out in Franklin, Ky @ Bluegrass RV park

Bluegrass RV park in Franklin, Ky

Sunday - September 30

Set up camp at Lake Wapusun RV park in Shreve, Oh

Pumpers have pretty nice duty here. Not even sure if they check these wells that often.

Another view of our campsite in Lake Wapusun. 

Monday - October 1

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls looking toward Rainbow Bridge from the US side

A local having dinner

Looking at Canada from Goat Island

Horseshoe Falls from US side

Camped at Branches RV Resort in Grand Island, NY

Oops...looks like we have the tree on fire.

She's trying to blow it out

Tuesday - October 2

Kind of had a winery tour today, since it was rainy today. The Black Willow wine was very good.

 At the Black Willow Winery on the shores of Lake Ontario, about to taste a little 'vino'.

Had to stop at this 'on your honor' veggie stand and buy some tomatoes and acorn squash.

Watched the locks empty and fill to get the boat upriver.

This is water coming out of the lock at the Erie Canal

Fall is in the air!

Went back to the falls to ride the Maid in the Mist boat ride, but they had just left the dock with the last load of people. So, we went out to the observation deck and took a few more pictures.

A young couple discussing their souvenirs.

Wednesday - October 3, 2012 we went back to the falls to  ride the Maid of the Mist and then later on we would cross the border to visit the Canadian side to see the falls lit up at night.

Everyone suited up for the Maid of the Mist ride.

Niagara Falls view from the Maid of the Mist ride.

Maid of the Mist turning around near (and pretty near) Horseshoe Falls

Nice fall shot of the falls

Skylon Tower in Ontario looks sort of alien in this picture.

Falls lit up - not as spectacular as we thought it might be :(

Thursday - October 4, 2012

We packed up and left New York this morning, headed to Evergreen Lake RV resort in Conneaut, Oh. They had the freeway tore up at the exit we needed to get off on so we had to find a way to double back to find the rv park.

After we set up the camper we took off on a tour of the local wineries and covered bridges. Here's a few pictures of the beautiful scenery in northeast Ohio.

First Winery stop in Conneaut, Ohio. This is where we ate a delicious Italian dinner. They young couple that own and run the winery were very gracious hosts. And the food was fantastic.

This was right next to Taristano Winery. Such beautiful scenery this time of year.

On the tour of covered bridges. 

Underneath the covered bridge.

Parked near the covered bridge.

Visiting the Buccia Vineyard.

They have a nice Bed & Breakfast here.

Another covered bridge.

Friday - October 5, 2012

 Beautiful scenery everywhere.....

Camped at Evergreen Lake Park in Conneaut, Oh. We stayed here for two days. Toured the covered bridges of Ashtabula county and some of the wineries in the area.

October 5, 2012

Visited the Amish Country Friday October 5. Here we're at the famous Lehman's, an Amish hardware store that carries all sorts of antique reproduction items and other products of a bygone era.

Ah, something everyone desperately needs...a pink pig BBQ pit!

 1 horsepower Amish hot rod!

We ate here at Mrs. Yoder's Kitchen. Very good food.

Taristano Winery & Cafe farm....across from the cafe.

one more shot of part of the farm.

Patsi walking down the hill from the cafe.

October 6, 2012 - Saturday
We met a lady at Niagara Falls as we were waiting in line a Tim Horton's (canadian coffee house, similar to Starbucks) and she invited us to there place in Cambridge, Oh. They have 15 acres right off the freeway. We drove from Evergreen Lake RV park to Cambridge Saturday morning and got to Lenny & Henny Dionne's place about 2pm. They were planning a cookout and wanted us to stay and spend the night.

Beans cooking over an open fire....They were very very good!!

The Dionne house

Front of Dionne house

Lenny & friends

The fish house

This is an old Lincoln mobile trailer, late 50's or early 60's model. I told Henny that I'd like to restore it if she ever wanted to get rid of it.

Getting ready to leave.

October 7, 2012 - Sunday morning

We left Sunday morning and drove to Timber Trails RV park in Mulberry Grove, Il. It was a nice park and we only spent the night, so I didn't take any pictures.

October 8, 2012 - Monday
We left the Timber Trails RV park Monday morning and drove to Joplin, Mo. We bought BBQ at Red Hot & Blue BBQ. They have good BBQ so we bought enough to have dinner at my brother Jeff's place tomorrow. Drove on up the road a ways and bought diesel at Walmart for $3.71. The only cheaper place we got diesel was in Ohio for $3.69.

Camped at the KOA outside of Joplin for the night.

October 9, 2012 - Tuesday
Drove through eastern Oklahoma down to Weatherford, Tx to visit my brother Jeff and spend the night at his place. Had a great BBQ dinner and visit.

Set up at Jeff's place.

Takin' care of his yard.

'Nother shot of our camper at my brother's place.

October 10, 2012 - Wednesday

Drove home from Weatherford, Tx. after a fantastic trip. Seems like we were gone a long time but we were only on the road for 12 days. That's not a long time but we were never rushed and had a helluva time.

Until next time......

Overthehump

Abra Cut Dabra.....Poof and It's in Pieces

Finally got the Dodge van frame nearly ready for the 41 COE.

Rear section cut off.

Rear section moved outside

Rear section lifted off

Driver side rear section cut out and windows cut out.

Both Sides removed

Another view with both sides cut off

Looking from the front

Rear of frame trimmed up a little

Moved outside to spray off motor

Side view with rear section loaded onto frame

RBW 5th wheel hitch I have for sale, pic was in this group

Back in the shop to remove the engine & tranny

That's all folks, until next time.....

Overthehump

The Honey Boo Boo is Finished!!

I finished putting the final touches on the new tailgate this morning. I was trying to figure out where to put a couple of the stick on Dodge emblems from the old tailgate but nothing seemed to look right. My old tailgate had the Dodge Ram emblem below the latch handle but it wouldn't fit correctly anywhere. I was scratching my head wondering what to do when I notice the Dodge Ram letters on the old Dodge van I'm stripping down. So, I took it off, cleaned it up and put it in the lower right corner of the tailgate.

I'm still thinking about putting a couple of 2" amber round lights in the center of the zia to get the zia to stand out a little more. If you have any ideas leave a comment or send me an email.

Here's a pic of the tailgate in the down position. I had to extend the cables so it would be level when down. Thanks to JD for his idea and the pieces off an old chevy tailgate. They worked great. Had to do a little modification, but it worked out well. I did get to use all of the latching mechanism and it worked out well too. 

I found a really nice 1949 Westcraft 3 window trolly top. This one is a little short and doesn't have a full bath but it is really nice. This is the kind of vintage travel trailer that I'd really like to have, but not for the price they are wanting.

Here's a few pics:

Sure could use a shower & sink

These were the cadillac of trailers in the 40' and early 50's. Not very many of them left today.

Well, back to work, until next time.....

Overthehump

Honey....Boo Boo!

Last Friday I had to tell Patsi....Honey, I did a boo boo. I've seen the results when others have done it, but until Friday it had never happened to me. If you remember in my last post, we had taken our camper to Fort Davis for Labor Day Weekend and prior to leaving I had expected UPS to deliver our new 5th wheel hitch. But, UPS had called me and told me it wouldn't be delivered until Tuesday, after Labor Day. But they delivered it while we were on our way to Fort Davis. JD Clayton helped me out and stored it for me until we got back.

Anyway after we got back, I put the new hitch in and we tried it out. It worked like a champ and the ride was smooth. I had ordered 2 new tires because we'd separated the belts on 2 of them, so I left the trailer hooked up to the truck. I put the jacks down to take the weight off the truck. Friday when I was going to get the tires I raised the jacks, made sure the steps were up, and did a quick once over. But that wasn't a good enough inspection because as I pulled out of the driveway and just made it into the street when I heard this huge thunck! I stopped quickly, wondering what it was and my stomach turned over when I realized that the trailer had dropped off the hitch. I was expecting the worst and was wondering how I was going to get the trailer back onto the hitch because I didn't think the jacks would go that high.

I surveyed the damage and luckily the only thing that was really damaged was the tailgate, where the 5th wheel hitch pin had hit it. I started jacking the trailer up and lo and behold, it raised high enough to get hitched up again. I went and got the 2 tires. I thought at first I might be able to straighten the tailgate out. But once I got it off the truck I realized it would be impossible for me to get it straight enough to look good. I thought about getting one from a salvage yard, but wasn't sure if I'd be able to match the paint and I didn't want to go to the trouble of painting one or having it painted. I looked at 5th wheel hitches with the cutouts for the hitch and decided I'd just build my own. I didn't take any pictures of the crunched tailgate, but took some of my build after I got started.

Framed out. I was able to salvage the handle, latch mechanism, and lights.

After numerous tries, some frustration and gently coaxing it with a few choice words, I finally got it to latch correctly. Now I can get started building the panel inserts.

Pieces of kokopelli and a turtle kokopelli. These will be in the two panels along with a zia sign, pictured below.

This one has the latch handle installed. I was able to use the original linkage with a little modification. The tailgate light (3 of them) goes in the 3 holes. 

I had to fabricate some panels for the back of the tailgate to cover up some of the mechanisms and finally started painting late this afternoon.

I sort of rigged up a temporary paint booth. It worked well enough to keep overspray from going all over the shop. I did get most of the pieces painted, but still have a few to do tomorrow. I'll update again when I get the finished product.

Until next time.....

Overthehump