Sharon in our new dining room
Sharon in our new dining room
On the road again! - Iowa is over and it�s time to hit the road for our summer tour. But first, we�ve got to get our house ready to rent. Since we�re on the road for upwards of 11 months, it doesn�t make sense for us to be spending so much on a mortgage for a house we rarely see. We�d be better off renting it and letting someone else pay our mortgage for us. Before we can do that we�ve got to clean it up and clear out some furniture.
We decided to rent to some friends �cuz they were nice enough to let us keep a room for ourselves, so when we are in town we don�t have to stay in the trailer. It�s a win-win situation since we�re giving them a break on their rent in return.
We decided to finish the walls in the kitchen and dining room. We had remodeled those rooms a couple of years ago but never had enough time to repaint. So, there were a lot of spots that were bare plaster. We thought we�d just do the big wall in the dining room, but once I started doing a really cool two tone textured paint job I decided to finish the entire kitchen. It looks great!
Bathroom Remodel
Bathroom Remodel
Look at my cool new toilet!
Look at my cool new toilet!
Sharon also wanted to work on the bathroom. She had pulled all the wallpaper down so we�d have to fix it before we left. It worked. We ended up completely remodeling the bathroom. I even put in a new low profile toilet. It�s really cool! I opted to texture paint again instead of wallpapering again. I had the tools already, so I figured what the heck! It looks beautiful too. I thought we�d have trouble matching the old avocado green but it turns out that the color is back in style only it�s now called 'sage'.
Before we left Florida we made a trip down to Ft. Lauderdale to visit one of Sharon�s best friends for her birthday. While down there Sharon and Ronn had a big fight. Now they�re not talking to each other. I won�t get into the details but it�s really stupid and I think they�re both acting like children. If I stopped talking to Ronn and Riki every time they said something stupid to me or about me, we�d never talk again. We�re family, therefore we�re gonna drive each other crazy at times. So, grow up, get over it, and move on. You two are to close to not work this out. That�s all I have to say about that.
Anyway, with the house finished and most everything in storage or the garbage it was time to head out for Ohio. But first we had to get the trailer, which was in Georgia. We picked up the trailer without any real problems, but stopped for a quick drink with the entertainment director from the�Ga. Ren. Fest. She was storing our trailer while we were in Florida. It was nice to visit but it did slow us down a little.
By the way, Sharon decided to bring her car for this leg of our tour. It means we both have to drive, but once we get to our destination we let the truck sit while we use her car. It gets 3 times the mileage as the truck, 4 or 5 times when I�m towing.
We headed up through North Carolina towards Charlotte. There we turned north to Ohio. I think it was in West Virginia when we hit our first obstacle. I was about half-mile ahead of Sharon when she had a blow out. Since I was ahead of her, I had no idea until she called me on my cell. I went to the next exit, made a U-turn, and headed back her way. I got her tire changed in record time. She was a little rattled but handled it well. Since she was now traveling on a little doughnut tire, we decided to get both her rear tires changed. (We had recently changed the front.) This was slow-down number two.
After lunch and tire repair we headed north once again. The truck handled the climb up the mountains like a champ. Sharon even complained I was moving a little too fast at times. I don�t doubt it; you really can�t gauge speed very well in my big truck.
I thought we�d make it to the campsite by late that night. But, I have a tendency to over-expect our ability to drive a long distance in one day. Just after 10pm we crossed into the state of Ohio - our final destination. At 10:15 I blew a tire on the trailer. At 10:18 after trying to call me on the phone but failing miserably due to a lack of cell service, Sharon drove up beside me and started honking wildly to let me know the trailer was shooting sparks from the flat tired rim dragging on the road.
This was about the final straw for Sharon. I�d already pushed her to the limit of her driving distance. I called�*On-Star�but they said they couldn�t help me unless it was the truck the unit was installed in that had the flat. I thought that sucked! But, they said they could hook me up with a local tow service that could come out and change the tire to my spare for the trailer. You see, I didn�t have a jack that could handle the weight of the trailer.
Trailer blowout damage
Trailer blowout damage Thank god for trailer insurance!
Thank god for trailer insurance!
They said it�d be a little while. So I sent Sharon one exit up ahead in her car with the dogs to get a hotel room �cuz I knew she was gonna crack without a real bed soon. It took the tow guy almost 2 hours to get to me. Thank God I sent Sharon ahead.
After fixing the trailer, we crashed for the night and got up the next morning to complete our journey. We picked up a tire to replace the spare for the trailer and continued north to I-90. We arrived at our camp about noon on Friday. Just in time to get the festival site set up for the weekend.
So far, the�Ohio show�has been good to us. The only problem has been all the rain we�ve gotten. It�s just after the fifth of six weekends and we�ve had four or five rain days. Kind of a feast or famine situation. Either it�s raining and nobody�s on site or it�s beautiful and we�re having a record weekend.
This week Sharon and I are heading to Montreal to visit my family. (See my�Bio on my Italian family in Canada) We�re gonna stop at Niagara Falls on Monday and spend the night at a little bed and breakfast. It�s our chance to have a little 'us time'. Then we�ll spend the rest of the week with my family before heading back on Friday to work the last weekend of�the Great lakes Fair. Then it�s off to the�Minnesota show�and two more�Palooza�dates. Type at ya� soon!
