Storm Clean up and Towing

Wesley Chapel, Florida

The maintenance people here at Quail Ridge were busy all day, cleaning up after the storm.  We were impressed at how much they got accomplished.

The old man who had a tree fall on his 5th wheel seemed to get priority.  I was happy to see them taking care of his property. They went to check on him right after the storm and had to strongly  “encourage” him to leave his trailer.  

If you looked carefully at my picture yesterday, you can see a very large tree branch ready to fall on his trailer.  I didn’t see how they were going to be able to remove that large tree branch without having it come crashing down on the trailer.

They used a front loader and in no time they had the tree down and the mess cleaned up. Unfortunately, we didn’t notice the process until they finished.   Darn….I wanted to see how they did it.

Apparently, there are some leaks from the tree damage because there is now a pretty blue tarp over the top.  I hope he has insurance for the damage.

They worked around the park all day but there is still work to be done. 

We were out yesterday and saw some ominous looking clouds forming.  We got back home and prepared to ride out another storm.  I was pretty nervous.   We got some hard rain, but no wind and very little thunder and lightning. Just a normal Florida storm, thank goodness.

Sherry and David missed all the excitement again, as they spent another long day at the hospital.  I feel so sorry for them.  They are going to be completely worn out before the transplant even begins.  I’m sure they would appreciate hearing from all of their friends out there.

We’ve been trying to get the new truck set up for towing behind the motorhome, and we’ve ran into a glitch.

With our older Nissan Frontier, it could be flat towed behind the motorhome with no modifications, because it is a manual transmission. 

We decided we wanted an automatic transmission this time, and you have to modify it to be able to flat tow.  We need a  drive-shaft disconnect installed on the truck.    No, it does not invalidate the warranty.  Apparently, there is only  one company in the entire world that makes this part, and they are behind and we won’t be able to get one for 8-12 weeks.  It seems they need a machinist to make the parts, and they can’t get the parts made fast enough.   We just saw a tv program recently that there was a shortage of machinists.  This just might be a good career choice for young people.

The next step is to get the tow brackets to fit the new truck.  They are about $400 for the brackets, plus labor to mount them.    There is no hurry to get them,because we won’t be able to tow it until we get the drive-shaft disconnect.  It gives us time to get the best price.

These were all things we knew we would have to do, however we didn’t realize there would be a delay getting the drive-shaft disconnect. 

So….we won’t be able to tow the new truck until we get this all done.  I’m glad we didn’t trade in the old truck!  We’re going with the flow though, and not getting stressed about it all.  At least we still have something we can tow behind the motor home.   We’ll just have to leave the new truck and tow the old one.

Today’s project is to pick up the Honda, get is spiffed up and put on Craig’s List for sale.  We certainly don’t need three vehicles.

We originally planned to leave here on the 23rd.  We’re now thinking about heading east to Vero Beach.    We’ll see.