AN EMAIL & PHOTOS FROM A LOUISIANA RV COUPLE

A few blogs ago I posted about the mobility van I drive part time & included some pics of how the ramp system worked.  A couple days ago I received an email from an RV couple in southwest Louisiana who read that post.  I thought their email & pics would be of interest to other RV'ers & especially folks in similar situations.  I emailed Vickie & Ronnie back to ask permission to use their email & photos in an upcoming blog post.  This is that post & this is their email:))

Hi Al & Kelly.........I enjoy reading your blog and passing the link on to others.  It was interesting to see you describe how your work van lift works. So many people have no idea what it is like.  We, however have some experience in a similar lift we had installed in our Keystone Raptor Toy Hauler.  Ronnie has been in a wheelchair since 1988 as a result of a spinal cord injury. We live in SW Louisiana and travel when we can.  We just returned from a two week trip thru Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas.  Anyway, I thought you might like to see our rig setup. 

 

The first three photos were taken during the installation of the lift.  We didn't watch while they cut a huge hole in the side of our trailer.

             

Second two is Ronnie on the lift the first time. I know he's facing the wrong way, but he prefers to face the way he's headed.

 

Last pic is where we're enjoying our time, camping & fishing by a river.  We're proud of our ramp refitted Keystone Raptor and it get lots of stares when we pull into a campground.  Ronnie gets out of the truck on his seat lift and into his wheelchair, then people watch to see how he's gonna get up in that big trailer.  We just smile and wave!  The company that installed the lift in our 2009 Keystone Raptor Toy Hauler, got all the specs/blueprints from Keystone, because it is a Toy Hauler with a reinforced garage area in the back, & very little additional reinforcement was necessary. Before we had the lift installed we used an ATV winch mounted to the floor and would winch him in his chair up and down the back ramp door, it was sometimes very steep and dangerous when raining, now we have the perfect set up......

Last I read, MIKE & PAT were having themselves quite a time over there in Custer South Dakota with a troublesome water well dilemma.  Looked like some possible underground problems after arriving at their summer residence recently.  Well, Mike thought, we'll just use our 5th wheel water resources for the time being until we get the well situation straightened out.  "Oh Oh".......more trouble!!  Anybody got an extra few jugs of water to spare...............

Our friend Ron from FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE in Grand Bend Ontario has offered to put my motorcycle on his website if I decide for sure to sell it.  The hard words there are, 'decide for sure.'  The bike still had a lot of fine pine pollen on it from a couple weeks ago so if the bike is going to be sold I wanted to get it cleaned up.  Can't sell a bike with pine pollen all over it ya know!!  Slipped up to the Goderich car wash this morning & gave the bike a good washing & a coat of spray wax.  They have a clear water rinse there so no water or chemical spots are left on anything either.  When I backed it out of the bay all sparkling & shiny I thought to myself, "Geeeezzzzz, I can't sell this bike!!"  Drove over to Tim Horton's for a coffee & sat there for a bit thinking what I should do.  At this age & stage of the game if I sell the bike I'm not likely to ever have another one.  At least not as nice as this one.  It's a Honda Shadow Aero 1100 & it's a quality bike.  So, here I am sitting on the proverbial fence again.  What to do, what to do:((  I'm beginning to lean towards the idea of keeping the bike now in case we do not find a Jeep Wrangler.  Jeep decision first, motorcycle decision second.....ya, that's it.  Ok, that's my plan as of right now.  Well, until at least supper time anyway:))

DECISIONS, DECISIONS:((

Thanks to everyone for your concerns & comments about our little owl yesterday.  But, there may be a calming spiritual side to the story.  Our Colorado RV friend Rene from LIVE-WORK-DREAM left a comment on Kelly's Facebook this morning which read...."Ooooh, how sad. You guys are great for trying to save her. But you know what? We saw an owl today for the first time on our property. Maybe it was your owl's spirit being set free? Nice to imagine."

 GROANER'S CORNER:(( 

A man walked out to the street and caught a taxi just going by.   He got into the taxi, and the cabbie said, "Perfect timing.   You're just like "Brian!
Passenger:
"Who?"
Cabbie:
"Brian Sullivan.  He's a guy who did everything right all the time.  Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happen like that to Brian Sullivan, every single time."
Passenger:
"There are always a few clouds over everybody."
Cabbie:
"Not Brian Sullivan.   He was a terrific athlete.   He could have won the Grand Slam at tennis.   He could golf with the pros.   He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him play the piano.  He was an amazing guy."
Passenger:
"Sounds like he was something really special."
Cabbie:
"There's more.   He had a memory like a computer.   He remembered everybody's birthday.   He knew all about wine, which foods to order and which fork to eat them with.   He could fix anything.   Not like me.   I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out.   But Brian Sullivan, he could do everything right."
Passenger:
"Wow. Some guy then."
Cabbie:
"He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams.   Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Brian, he never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good.   He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong; and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too.   He was the perfect man!   He never made a mistake.   No one could ever measure up to Brian Sullivan."
Passenger:
"An amazing fellow.   How did you meet him?"
Cabbie:
"Well, I never actually met Brian.   He died.   I'm married to his bloody widow!!!!"

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

INTERNET.....THE GLUE THAT HOLDS US TO-GETHER

FOR SALE:((

After a lengthy decision making process over the past couple of months I have finally decided it is time to sell my motorcycle. I put the ad up onto the internet this morning. I lost the excitement of motorcycling along the way somewhere a few years ago & try as I did I just couldn't get it re-started again. It was hard to justify paying insurance 12 months of the year for something that could only be comfortably used for 3 or 4 months. Interests & priorities change & this marks the end of a motorcycling era for me that brought a lot of enjoyment in the early years I rode. I will miss the bike on those few special warm summer days every year but in the long run I know I will feel better having at last made my decision. And so it is done.

EITHER THIS BIRD WAS EATING STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM OR MULBERRIES OFF A NEARBY MULBERRY TREE

Without the internet we would all have far fewer friends & much smaller address books. Isn't it amazing how many old school chums, business associates, fellow workers, relatives, & neighbors we all have now. Where were all these people before the internet. Personally I think the internet is the greatest invention since pickled chicken feathers. It allows us, in the privacy & comfort of our own homes to go out there on-line and meet people we'll probably never really meet in real time anyway & enables us to keep in touch with those remaining people that we actually have met. It is a comfortable kind of distance friendship for people like me who are not out-going & socially bubbly. I have what might be called, Wizard of Oz syndrome. I can ruffle & bluster & make a big noise on my keyboard but if you pull the curtain away you will find a slightly portly, quiet, shy, unassuming, & somewhat uncomfortable aging cursmudgeon hiding under a shock of graying hair complete with moustache & beard. Aw yes, it is the age of Ozlike Cyber Cursmudgeonism:)) (I know cursmudgeon isn't spelled right but I prefer to have a little s ahead of my mudge) 2002 HONDA SHADOW AERO 1100

It is still early July but to-day I found myself sitting with Atlas & magnifying glass in hand pouring over various routes to the American west. We have a standard route we like that takes us into the southeast corner of New Mexico but if we decide on the Mesa Verde National Park area near Durango Colorado this fall it's going to mean a totally different trek. Two years ago we slipped through Chicago straight across to Denver & then over the mountains to our first destination of Moab, Utah. I imagine we would use the same route as far as Limon & then head southwest down through Colorado Springs. However, I haven't checked our mountain directory guide yet so that may change things. As beautiful & breathtaking as the Rocky mountains are they can be a real SOB to haul a motorhome & car through. RV friends of ours blew a Motorhome engine last year in the mountains on their way south from Alberta. Not a good thing to have happen!! From the 4 corners area we would then make our way south into Arizona running down through Apache Junction to southeastern Arizona for our 3 week November Ranch sitting job again near Douglas. Well, it all sounds good in theory anyway. In the meantime I had better get myself busy collecting pop bottles for some gas money again!!

TO-DAY'S HUMOR: A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm, and says: 'A beer please, and one for the road.'

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