November 3, 2004

November 2 & 3, 2004

Trout Lodge

DAYS 138 & 139

 

Tuesday ; Today was cool and raining. We spent most of the day in Potosi, running errands. First I went to a tire shop, and had all the rubber valve stems replaced with metal ones, then all the dually valve extenders replaced with metal ones. Hopefully, this will reduce a lot of the tire related problems we've experienced. I dropped Joanne off at Dollar General before I went to the tire shop. After she was finished at Dollar General, she was going to walk to Wal-Mart, within reasonable walking distance of the Dollar General. After I was finished at Tire Bargains, I went to Parker-Banks Chevrolet. Yes, yes ... we're just travelling around North America, stopping at every Wal-Mart and GM dealer we can find. I took Dee-Dee in because of the leaking windshield washer problem. They found that the windshield washer pump was broken ( again ) and will replace that under GM parts warranty. They also found that the plastic fluid reservoir / tank had been busted by Surgenor, my GM dealer in Ottawa, during one of the 3 times in the last year that they replaced the windshield washer pump. Somebody "repaired" the damage with some sort of black goop, like roof tar. The dealer down here will replace it, but doesn't feel it warrants a "GM parts warranty" claim, as the problem is really one of Surgenor's workmanship. I will have to pay about $150 for a new tank, and labour, and then "chase" Surgenor for reimbursement < sigh >. They didn't have a new tank, so I will have to return in a week

< another sigh >. When I was finished at Parker-Banks, I picked up Joanne at Wal-Mart and we returned to YMCA Of The Ozarks, taking a slightly different, and a bit more scenic route than the one we drove last week..

Today is election day here in the United States. Over dinner, I discussed politics with a bunch of the twenty-somethings that work here. Ah, yes, I remember being that idealistic. Then eventually I grew up ! By the time we went to sleep, the outcome of the election was still unknown. HUH ?

Wednesday ; Another cool, rainy day. Shortly after 11:00 A.M. John Kerry conceded defeat. I don't really understand the U.S. Presidential election system. The fate of the entire free world seemed to hinge on the outcome of the vote in Ohio ! ? ! The re-election of Bush is a good thing from my perspective. I have a lot of money invested in the U.S. S & P 500 index, and the U.S. markets typically improve after the re-election of an incumbent President, and decline upon the election of a new President.

We wanted to take some hikes around the property today, but it was too cold and wet. I worked on the computer quite a bit today, catching up on e-mail, blog updates, bank statements, mail ordering, and the like. Joanne did some laundry. In the afternoon we went to see the "Nature Centre", which is part of the Outdoor Education program at Camp Lakewood. It's a large room filled with miscellaneous specimens of local wildlife, as well as a bunch of domestic small animals. The "King" of the Nature Centre is Raymond the rabbit, who roams freely, or more accurately, hops freely around the room. His space is an old upholstered chair right beside the front door. There are a couple of guinea pigs, a few rats, a few mice, a sugar glider, and a chinchilla, on the domestic animal side. On the wild side, there are a bunch of different snakes, a tarantula, a freshwater aquarium with a blue gill and a bunch of rainbow trout, an aquarium with different types of local turtles, an aquarium with a chameleon, etc. An alleged chameleon ... we couldn't see him in the aquarium. For all we saw, it could be an empty aquarium.

Late in the afternoon, our new neighbours arrived. Sharon and Jack Board, a couple about our age who are just starting out in the RV life. WOW ... I'm no longer the RV newbie. I have more experience, and knowledge of RV'ing than Jack does. He asks me for advice. They live in Missouri, about 3 hours away. They will be "Workamping" here for 3 weeks, to sort of test out the "Workamping" idea, and see if it "fits" them. They used to own a resort. They recently purchased a fifth wheel trailer similar in size to Harvey. Shortly after they arrived, they had an electrical problem in their trailer. Jack asked for help, and I helped him solve the problem.

Today I received my work / activity schedule for the upcoming Single Parents Weekend. Finally, I get to do some really interesting stuff.

DSK