Why the title?

"Pioneers take the arrows"

Oh, wait. I should be upbeat and taking arrows doesn't sound like an upbeat thing to say.

So, let me amend that statement.

It was courage and vision that led the pioneers to leave behind a comfortable, settled life and trek West to begin a new life in a new place. Many of those from the East that went West found a strength within themselves that they didn't see while they were in their old life. Instead of being one of those that just kind of went along with the others in the old life, they became leaders and visionaries in their new lives.

The sentiments of that last paragraph come from a favorite author, Louis L'Amour, in many of his books. So, I can't really say that it is an original thought from me. However, what he said is truthful.

Welcome to being a pioneer. Look ahead and ignore the "barking dogs" that give you negative opinions and comments. Louis L'Amour also spoke of the barking dogs.

In some of his stories, it was usually a father or older man telling a young boy how it was that when the Westward bound Conestoga wagons rolled through towns, the dogs came out to bark at them. His character then told the young listener that the barking didn't stop the wagons from going on to their destinations.

Following the advice of the Louis L'Amour characters, may we all forge ahead with our plans, after carefully considering all consequences and leave the "barkers" behind.

Monday, January 23, 2012

I KNEW There Was a Reason….

For us to get the model of Mobile Suites that we have.

I had a private message on the RV Dreams forums from a participant that commented there on my last blog entry instead of here at the blog itself. Since I’m not certain whether he wants his name known or not, I won’t mention it here.

Anyway, he told me that he was impressed than in my near passed out state that I actually had room in the bathroom to lie on the floor. Well, initially, that went right over my head as to why he might be making that observation. I simply answered that I was in the fetal position to some degree and that part of me was probably in the hallway.

Then a couple of hours later, it hit me. I forget that we have a side bathroom floor plan with the sink, commode, shower and linen closet all in a separate room on the door side of the coach. Then, I remembered another DRV Suites coach we saw this past weekend that had the split bathroom with the commode and small sink in the “commode closet” and the larger sink and shower actually in the bedroom area.

Our 38TKSB3 Mobile Suites bathroom area.

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Well, I can guarantee that I couldn’t have lain on the floor in that “commode closet” after I had offered sacrifices to the Porcelain god. So, needless to say, I am even more pleased that Jo and I choose this floor plan.

The “split” commode closet area in a Mobile Suites PS3.

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Maybe we can’t stop on the side of the road and use the bathroom without putting out the bedroom slide, but I can sure pass out in the bathroom if the need arises. (Is this kind of like a plan coming together?)

I also would like to mention that we recently completed another “modification” to our living quarters with the completion of a more permanent platform and steps to get into the coach instead of having to use the four-step RV steps. This will allow us to save some wear and tear on the RV steps themselves.

Since we don’t have any power tools anymore, we measured and had the pieced cut at Lowes’ prior to bring it all home. The only things I had to cut were the 4”X 4” legs since Lowes’ saw couldn’t cut anything that think. So, with our old-timey manual hand saw, I cut those out. Then Jo, our youngest son, Eric, and I put everything together. If I say so myself, I think we did a pretty decent job of constructing the thing.

Bare naked platform and steps and diving platform for energetic and anxious to bark MinPin.

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Initially, it looked like the above and was fine until Lady, our female MinPin decided that she needed to run out fast to see what TJ was barking at and bailed off of the side of the platform instead of down the steps. After a late night trip to the emergency vet service and paying $100, we decided we needed to make some more modifications. While it helps a lot, Lady still wants to climb the steps from an angle instead of straight up the steps. (Incidentally, after moping around for a few days and getting some pain pills, Lady is now just fine.)

After further modifications, we now have this, which limits Lady from doing any more 1 ½ gainers off the side.

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Oh, and I guess I should add one more note to yesterday’s post about health issues. After the trip to the doctor on Friday, I’ve now added a daily pill for high blood pressure. (Is it the wife, the high-flying dog, or my co-workers at work?)

A picture of our two MinPins with Lady being the larger, black dog.

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