August 9 – 19, 2021

Monday, August 9, 2021

Last night’s family gathering was still fresh in my mind when Annalou, who had spent yet another night on the couch, keeping watch over my Dad as he slept, told me he was slowing down.

We all spent as much of the morning as possible with him, and he passed away peacefully before lunch; Sara by his side, and all three of us siblings there with our spouses. There is no doubt that he heard “Well done, good and faithful servant” and we know we will see him again! We all desire to follow in his footsteps as he followed Christ so faithfully.

It was decided that we would have a Memorial Service tomorrow night, Tuesday the 10th, at the church mainly for our family, as both Paul and Roger have major appointments they need to get back for. Paul will compile pictures, and I will make up a slide show in time for that. I will also try and get internet to the church so the service can be sent out live over the internet.

The hearse came within a few hours, and he was properly honored as a veteran with Taps and the National Anthem just before they put him in the hearse. (that can be seen at the end of the Memorial Slide Show) All of us were there, along with several close friends.

Once I downloaded video footage, and had all the digital photos on my laptop, I began making the slide show. That was about 10 PM, and I had it basically finished by 6 AM in time to take a shower and get to breakfast on time up at the church. The rest of my morning Tuesday was spent tweaking the slide show, rendering it, and encoding it into a video file.  I then started right in on trying to find a way to get internet to the church building – fast enough to Zoom the service this evening.  I had to think outside the box, as the closest internet was about 700 feet away. My brother ran to town for supplies as I finished the slide show, and once he returned, I cut the internet cable at Clay’s house (a neighbor, and very good friend ever since we lived there in 1979) and spliced in a 1,000 foot CAT 5 cable, which I ran on top of the ground across an unused pasture to the church, and plugged in his router there. To my surprise, it worked!

I was concerned that with the line loss of such a long cable, we would no longer have the band width to send out video/audio footage! I then set up my laptop to the projector, ran some video and audio tests, and had just enough time to run back to the house and change, and get back before the Memorial Service started! There will be a link to the Zoom video of that service soon, as well as an audio link, and I will share it another blog once it is available. For now, here is the link to just the slide show. https://vimeo.com/591244364/7562c59959

Wednesday through Sunday, I did some maintenance on the house, like cleaning the gutters, replacing the front door knob, replacing 10 worn out electrical outlets, and various other things. I also took my van in to BB Graphics, who did the van wrap on my last van, and had them do a partial wrap to brand my present van.

Sunday morning, the service was designated as a Memorial Service for my Dad. That audio link will be available soon, and I will share it with you as soon as I have it available. Here is a picture of those who attended that service.

Monday, I put my van in the shop so they could diagnose the pre-collision system. It randomly goes off for no apparent reason, with lights, alerts, and braking, saying I am about to have a collision as I pass a semi, or a person crosses the street 1/4 mile in front of me while I am going 6 mph. Then, it will not allow me to run over 50 mph until I have stopped, turned off the ignition, waited 5 minutes, and restart. It happened three times on my drive down here, and once since I have ben here. Not something I can live with while following an Oversize Load as steerman! The shop determined that they did not have the proper diagnostic software to know exactly what part is bad, and said it would be several days before they could get any parts anyway. They said it would have to be diagnosed by a Ford dealership. I had hoped that I’d never need to see one of those crooks again in my life!! So we left from there at 3 PM to head back to North Carolina.

We arrived back at our “home” a little after midnight with no issues. We spent a few days there

looking for property, and spending quality time together.

While out looking at property, we stopped by to see how construction was coming along at the other campground, and he was shocked to see us! In fact, he asked if I had my drone with me, and of course I did, because we were out looking at properties with it. It was perfect timing, as he had scheduled for someone to come and take drone shots that afternoon! So he called and canceled them, and paid me instead to take the shots right then. Coming along, isn’t it?

Late Tuesday afternoon, I got the call. A driver had to fire his steerman this morning because he didn’t show up.  He will run today with a chase car, in order to arrive at his load site, because he will not need any steering help on his route while empty. He will load alone tomorrow, while I drive up to Batavia, OH, and we can leave Thursday, heading to a little town south of Des Moines, IA. That is perfect, because my van is in the Ford shop today, so I can not leave until tomorrow anyway.

We picked up the van, and were told that the problem part was, of course, the most expensive one, at $1,200 for a new sensor module, and that they couldn’t get one for several days. So we drove it back to the RV, and went searching for property. We had found a piece of property at the very end of the day, that looked like it might have possibilities.

Wednesday, August 19, 2021

After breakfast, we drove out in both cars to take a look. A little over 8 acres, land locked on three sides by a cow pasture, and on the fourth by thick woods. So I flew the drone up over it, and took some pictures, and we talked to neighbor. It has privacy, potential, and will require a lot of groundwork to establish deeded access (recorded in 1939) across what is now a well used cow pasture. (And that would help me justify a very low offer to meet our budget) But the drawbacks are that it will take time, and hands-on visits to town hall, and possibly a lawyer, which I will not be there for.

So we called our Realtor, and asked for her help to get the basic information, and said goodbye, as I drove off to Ohio just after lunch.

I stopped along the way at a Ford dealership I drove right past, and they did not have the part in stock either, but told me the closest dealer to where my driver is parked, has one in stock. I called ahead to confirm the part was in stock, but drove into town as the sun was setting, and after the dealership had closed.

I pulled in to the State Park Campground just 2 miles from the load site after 425 miles. I have been to this campground many times, and though there are 500+ sites, I know exactly which ones I like. It is a first come, first served policy, so I checked my 5-6 favorite sites that are too small to be popular, are quiet with no neighbor on one side, and are fairly close to the showers. My second choice was available, so I pulled in, booked online, and set up. I called my driver, who told me we need OH Troopers in the morning who will not be there until 9. The dealership opens at 7:30, so if I am there as they open the doors, I can grab the part, and be over at the truck just after 8, and still be ready to roll before 9. I made supper and went to bed.