Sense of Humor

Upon returning to work I found that management has a sense of humor. We have a new "hot-shot truck" and while I was on vacation it had decals installed.

We use this hot-shot truck to deliver up to 100 cases instead of takes a big rig and trailer.























The truck has decals to make it look like an ambulance and enlarge the picture and read what is on the back door. I took this picture thru the windshield of my truck and it makes the decals appear to be added with "photo shop" but it is real.

Training

Thursday afternoon as I was walking around the park I heard a loudspeaker giving orders. As I rounded the corner I spotted two fire department boats. They were there for their monthly training of using the "pumper boats" to load the fire department tanker truck and use the pumper truck to pump the water back in the lake.

The smaller boat (872) has a portable engine and pump sitting on the deck. The larger boat (871) has a built in pump that is below the water line and therefor does not need the hose that 872 has draped over the side.

The pumper boat loaded the pumper truck with water and then they loaded this portable water storage tank. Normally this tank is unloaded at a fire site where there is no hydrant available and the the tanker truck will quickly dump its load into it and leave to pick up another load of water while the pumper truck uses the water it is carrying and then use water out of the tank until the tanker truck can return with another load.

This is the stream of water the pumper boat was delivering with the engine at an idle.

After the tank was filled they pumped the water back into the lake.

Not to be outdone the pumper boat got into the act.

Lost Bridge Park

Lost Bridge Park is the name of the C.O.E. park we are staying at on Beaver Lake. The bridge was built in the 20's and there was no roads leading to it and the photo below appeared in the local paper and the name "lost bridge" was formed. It was five years before the roads were finished to put the bridge in use.

The lake now covers the original site of the bridge and the park is so named.

The "Coffee View" from our picnic table of the lake this morning.

The white triangle in the lower left of this photo is actually the corner of the picnic table as I am taking this from the back bench of the table.

It blows me away that we can be on the lake and have internet via our "air-card".

I am grilling burgers tonight as we bought wheat Kaiser rolls for the buns. Damn, does life get any better? Well is could if I had purchased a little livation to go with them.

At the lake

After a false start, we are finally at the lake. A couple of months ago we went to Camping World to buy a few things we have been needing. Our Dodge diesel did not have towing mirrors even though it had the factory tow package.

The CIPA brand tow mirrors that I wanted only showed the application up to a 2005 Dodge 2500. I felt they would fit my 2006 and while at Camping World, they let me try one and it fit. Fast forward to Sunday afternoon late and I get around to putting the tow mirrors on (I will only have them on when I need them). I grab the passenger side mirror (the one I had already tried) and put it on and when I opened the other box (marked as drivers side), it was also a passenger side mirror that had been boxed wrong. So we were sitting in front of the store when they opened this morning to exchange the mirror.

We still pulled out about 10 am and after stopping for lunch, we arrived at the lake (about 240 miles) a little before 4pm. The Dodge diesel did a great job towing the 14,000lb. trailer.

We are settled in with satellite tv and internet service.

Our spot is not "lakefront" but across the road from the lake. We have a view of the lake from our living room window and the picnic table. The lake is about a hundred feet from our door.

We are backed in a nice tree shaded spot. Although it might look like we are still hooked to the Dodge, we are not. The camper you see over the hood of the truck is on the lake front.

If you enlarge this picture you can you can see the lake between the pickup and camper.

What the old saying, "If the wife ain't happy, ain't no one happy!".

My first time

NO, not that "first time". At my age I am lucky to remember my last time for that.

I am talking about pulling our home (camper) for the first time. We have lived in it for over a year but have not moved it in that time. Next week we are pulling it to the mountains of northern Arkansas for vacation. We will be staying on Beaver Lake, close to Eureka Springs.

We traveled in our motorhome several times but this will be a new experience. In the motorhome you are right with all your stuff and if something is not riding properly you just stop and correct it. With the travel trailer I will not know until after the fact. After the first trip we will have a better idea of how things will "ride".

Cell phone coverage can be spotty in the mountains but hopefully there will be a "signal" for our "air-card" and we will have internet access on the lake.
Of course I will set up our Dish network satellite so we hill have tv at night. Really the only thing that will change is our view out the windows and of course we will not have out "deck". Life is good.