Getting Things Done?

We have now moved to Gulpha Gorge Campground, which is part of Hot Springs National Park. Notice our tow vehicle. Not quite big enough to pull this trailer. We took our truck to be serviced on Halloween. Bud had called the dealership months ago to let them know there was a small oil leak and to make an appointment for service. They wouldn’t make an appointment and told us to bring the truck in when we got here. It’s now November the 15th and all we know is that it is not an oil leak, it is transmission fluid. After that determination they pulled it back out of their garage until they had time to deal with it. They may have gotten to it Monday or yesterday as they said they would, they haven’t called. Meanwhile, we have a rental car, very expensive. We may get about half that cost reimbursed. Thank goodness our son-in-law has a Tundra set up for towing which he generously let us use.

Monday we used his truck to take the trailer to have new tires put on, have the wheel bearings checked (they were all right) and have the suspension greased. Then we towed it here, to Gulpha Gorge.

Meanwhile, I was fitted for a new crown on my eye tooth. I had gone all summer with the tooth built up with amalgam. Now I have a temporary crown. The new one is expected this week; here’s hoping. I do have a bit more time. Because of the delay in fixing the truck I cancelled two upcoming camping sites and instead booked us into the local commercial campground we stayed in last spring when Bud had his knee replaced. At least there we can extend our stay as needed. We were up against our 2 week limit at Lake Catherine State Park, and when I tried to extend our stay at Gulpha Gorge I found it was all booked up.

It’s not been all pain and waiting. We’ve been able to get back out on our “home” disc golf course. It’s a lovely place.

And Jamie had time to bring her dog, Bria, and hike with Matey and me.

A great bonus was that I was here to go with Jamie to Indianapolis to watch Adler’s band perform in the Bands of America Grand Nationals. We left Thursday afternoon for the nine and a half hour drive. An added pleasure for me was that I spent Friday afternoon with my cousin Doug and his wife Pat. They live in Indianapolis and kindly came downtown to pick me up at the Convention Center. So I had a great visit with them while Jamie helped the band set up in her role as Prop Parent. I was back at Lucas Oil Stadium for the preliminaries in plenty of time for Lake Hamilton’s performance at 6:30.

This is a recording from high in the bleachers of the start of their Saturday semifinal performance. The first few seconds are the end of their set up, you can tell when the actual performance starts. Not only did they make the semifinals for the first time ever, they ended up taking third place in Class 2A.

Jamie and I left before the kids did on Saturday, grabbed about four hours sleep in a motel near Memphis, and passed the buses with the band kids early Sunday morning about 10 miles outside of Hot Springs. It was quite a weekend.

Of course, I would have had time for the fun things had the truck been done within the two weeks we were at Lake Catherine and we could have moved on this Saturday as planned. Oh well, life on the road has some pitfalls.