New Running Gear for MoMance

We got to San Antonio TX Sunday afternoon, rode the city bus downtown and took a stroll along the riverwalk. We ate at an one of the hundreds of restaraunts there then spent about an hour at the dueling piano bar "Howl at the Moon". Even though at 7:30 on Sunday night there were only about six people in the joint the piano players were still asking for requests, so you know I made one. What I found out is, out of three piano players not one new how to play Bumble Boogie. Anybody can play an Elton John song, only real piano players know Bumble Boogie by B. Bumble and the Stingers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvGNBTosRAs"

We had a great evening and got home early.

Yesterday morning we had an appointment with Southwest Wheel to do some work on MoMance. They converted the brake system from electric drum to electric/hydraulic disc. While they were doing that we had them replace all the leaf springs and shocks. Now we have all new brakes, bearings, springs, and shocks and figure we are good for the next 100,000 miles. One guy, Reuben, started the job, at about lunch time when I could tell he wouldn't get done I told him we would be getting a motel. He said he had things to do the next day and had to get done so he had recruited two other guys to help him. All three of them were humped up like cut worms all afternoon to get done by 5:00. They made it so we were home again last night.

We spent the night just a couple of miles down the road. Will be easing our way west today, getting the brakes broke in and checking for boogers.

Head em up...

We haven't posted in a couple of weeks so I thought I had better get caught up since things are about to change. We are still in Whitehouse, TX where we have been visiting friends and Leah's family. I have been hanging out at Clicks, the local pool hall, and Tonya has been trying to pick up all the trash in Whitehouse. We also managed to sell and give away at least some of the stuff in our storage unit.

We decided the new paint job on the repair to MoMance didn't match as well as it should so we had to take it back in. The repair shop repainted it for us with a very good match this time.

We joined the kids at James' parents house for a great Thanksgiving dinner and also went to Bob and Kathy's for extra dessert with them and the Gill's.

We are getting ready to pull out today, headed for Yuma, AZ. It will take several days to get there with a couple of things planned along the way. We'll keep you posted as we go.

Move em out.

Home Again

Picked up MoMance yesterday and are homeless no more. Here are a few pictures of the work that was done.

The crack was at the corner of this slide. There was water damaged wood framework under the slide. To get to it the front caps had to be revoved and fiberglass and plywood exterior wall taken off.



Here is the new wood and a steel plate that was added to reinforce the corner. This should prevent the crack from reoccuring.


The new fiberglass skin is installed and getting prepared for paint.


We are pleased with the with the job Northwest Collision and RV repair did. It is a small shop that apparently does quite a bit of this type of work. I don't think they had worked on any Travel Supremes though because the owner, Filipe, was amazed at the size and quality of the wood used in the framework. He is used to seeing 1 and 2 inch frames and partical board floors. Even with that we apparently had a weakness in construction that caused the crack in the first place. That problem should be solved for good and we on our way to the next 8 years.

Body work turns in to surgery

Last week we postponed taking MoMance in to get the body work done due to rain. Took it in yesterday and after the initial look behind the small crack in the fiberglass we could see that some major surgery would be required to get to the framework. Some water damaged wood needs to be replaced and we need to confirm there aren't other problems that caused the crack in the first place. We won't be able to stay in it while the work is going on, now we are really homeless. We asked Leah if she needed a really convenient baby sitter, in other words could we move in for the week. She fell for it, so that's where we will be for a few days.

If you already looked at the last post about Paige's birthday party I have fixed the album, it now shows all the pictures instead of just one, go back to it and check them out.

Paige 4 year old mermaid

Click here to view these pictures larger

Saturday Paige had her 4 year birthday party. Since her birthday is the 30th the partiers usually wear their halloween costumes, Paige was a mermaid which became the party theme. The beautiful cake made by her grandmother Cynthia. After the party we went out to eat with friends and the girls' families.