johnny February 21st, 2009
What do you get when you combine one of Jenn’s favorite games (Railroad Tycoon) and the RV lifestyle? You get a railroad car fitted out for fulltiming! That’s just what we found as we were passing through Jefferson, Texas a couple of weeks ago. The Garden Club has acquired the personal car of Jay Gould, a railroad tycoon, and restored it to something close to it’s original splendor.
The car had four staterooms for passengers, two of which were adjoining with a bathroom, including tub and shower between them. The others all had their own plumbing, even if a bit primitive by modern standards. There was a couch as well as a pullman bed in each of the staterooms. The car would be able to take on water at the same water depots that the train used. We didn’t ask, but I assume the black and gray water would have been simply dumped along the tracks as soon as it was generated.
There were two rooms devoted to cooking with a pass through between them. Based on the layout, I would assume that the car originally had bunks for two servants, but only one of the kitchen cars still had a pullman berth at the ceiling. The icebox had something I think we could all use today, a glass door. How often have you opened the fridge and stared at what was there while deciding what you wanted?
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jenn January 4th, 2009
Well, we have been sitting in the same place so long I think I have a root or two starting. We need start moving before that root makes contact with the soil. The two main reasons we have been here so long are my new web page and the fabulous hospitality of my Aunt and Uncle. And, well a little lack of motivation on my part compounded with being sick.
Being with family has been great. It was nice to be able to spend the holidays with loved ones. What is Christmas w/o excited little children ripping open presents? My relatives provided that and much more. Roasted lamb, spiced eggnog, rum cake, holiday cheer, and much more. We have had some nice times while we have been here and really appreciate their concern and hospitality. We will miss them for sure. But, now its time to ramble.
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johnny April 11th, 2008
So how do you fit two people and two cats in a truck camper long term? The classic answer is to stack the people on top of each other in a corner and strap them down, then let the cats fight over the remaining 194 square feet. Since we’re not having any of that, the cats are having to learn to deal with it. Somehow, they’ve convinced me to let them use one of my drawers as a ‘princess seat’ in between the times I actively need to get clothes from them.
For those of you that haven’t met our local anarchic overlords, the gray tabby is simply ‘The Cat’ as she was here first and hasn’t bothered to tell us what she prefers to be called, although she has no such compunctions against telling us when its time to be fed. The Siamese is Hunter. I was all for calling her ‘The Other Cat’, but Jenn overruled me and now we have a Siamese cat that thinks she is people because she has a name.
What you can’t see in these oh-so -cute pictures of napping cats is the constant turf war that goes on. Sure, it’s peaceful now, but there’s nothing more entertaining than watching these kids both jump in the drawer, get on their hind legs, lay their ears back and bat each other about the head and neck. OK, maybe we’re just lacking for entertainment, but it’s still pretty interesting.
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johnny December 19th, 2007
Monday night we drove the camper back to the campground through the Orlando highway system; about 45 minutes if you skip interstates and toll roads. Between the new brakes and the timbrens, it drives like an entirely different vehicle.
Its not quite a sports car, but it does stop with a lot more firmness and a lot less noise. While it won’t be doing pace car work over in Daytona, it certainly deals with corners and uneven pavement a lot better than previously. It’s still top heavy and prone to lean a bit, but there is no side to side rocking to speak of.
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johnny December 17th, 2007
It poured on us pretty good late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, but by about 9:30 in the morning, the rain had stopped and the clouds were clearing out.
With great enthusiasm, we hopped out of the camper (well, after wearing out the snooze bar and having a cup of coffee) and started tearing off one of the front wheels and the brake caliper. We broke a couple of cheapo sockets breaking some nuts free and had to run out for replacements, but eventually we got the caliper off and got to the brake pads.
And then we had to run out for parts again. Apparently the last guy to work on the brakes couldn’t be bothered with putting things back together correctly. He left off one of the anti-rattle clips and BOTH of the V springs. Eventually, we found a auto store with a ‘brake kit’ that consisted of 4 V springs and 8 anti-rattle clips. A whopping $20 for about one ounce of cheap steel… but if you don’t have it… Anyway, we now had what should be all the parts and proceeded to try and pull this apart:
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