The Ryan RV Express: 05-28FEB14

Friday, February 28, 2014

05-28FEB14 - Houma, LA

Early Wednesday morning, 05FEB, we hit the road back to Houma, LA. We left earlier than normal for us, to give us the time to drive the entire distance in one day instead of the usual two days. That afternoon we were made it to Houma & parked in Joe's driveway. After plugging in the RV we headed out to see Rebecca & Raymond & the grandkids. After a short visit everyone headed off to Cajun Critters for crawfish!

Thursday we awoke to miserable weather, cold & wet! Miserable weather turned out to be the norm throughout February; while Louisiana (& most of the south) experienced record cold & rains. Turns out there was a reason why Joe was so glad to have us in his driveway? He wants our assistance (mostly Corrie's) in redecorating two rooms. So today Corrie started repainting the den.

Saturday, 08FEB, in the morning we met Rebecca, Jaxson, & Mason at the Houma Y to swim. Both kids appear to be natural water babies. That afternoon Joe & Dan took Joe's two quad ATVs & went mud riding in the bayou. Joe was amazed that Dan did something with an ATV he had never seen before - climb a tree with it & roll it over on its side. Unfortunately Joe wasn't filming with his smart phone & it wasn't captured on film. That night Tasha fixed dinner for everyone including her parents (Larry & Brinda), unfortunately Raymond was out of town drilling with his National Guard unit.

Monday Joe heads offshore for work, & we start preparing the 3rd bedroom for painting & new flooring. Dan removed baseboards - damaging two pieces & punching a hole in the closet drywall. Tuesday, 11FEB, the miserable weather returned. Corrie started painting the bedroom, while Dan repaired the drywall. Friday & Saturday we ripped the carpet out of the third bedroom & started cleaning the exposed concrete slab. The reason for cleaning the concrete, is because Joe is going to stain the concrete & not replacing the carpet.

Monday, 17FEB, Dan spent all day at Raymond & Rebecca's waiting for Roto Rooter, they never show. Raymond & Rebecca were experiencing "slow" draining of the kitchen & bathroom sinks. Raymond & Dan had rented a power snake & tried solving the problem. Things improved a little, but more work was still needed, so Roto Rooter was called.

Tuesday morning we took the RV back to Polar Aut-O-Air to work on dash AC again. Back in January they had worked on the dash AC; but it had stopped working on our recent trip to Florida. Turns out that someone had damaged an O-ring when re-installing the compressor. Since it probably was their mistake, there was no charge for a couple of parts needed & labor. We then moved the RV to Rebecca & Raymond's driveway.

Thursday was more waiting by Dan for Roto Rooter, who finally showed up at end of the day. He couldn't find the problem & called the office to schedule the camera guy. Friday, 21FEB, Dan spent most of day waiting for the Roto Rooter camera tech, who never showed. That evening we went with Rebecca, Jaxson & Mason to the Hercules Mardi Gras Parade. Jaxson didn't like all the noise, Mason wasn't impressed.

Monday, 24FEB, the Roto Rooter camera tech showed up & determined the central sewage line is broken under the slab. This means that a four by four hole needs to be cut into the patio, for tunneling under the house. This means hiring Roto Rooter or another contractor.

Tuesday morning we headed into New Orleans to pick up new RV house batteries at Saia trucking. When we were dry camping in the Everglades National Park last month, we discovered our four year old house batteries wouldn't hold a charge. We had intended on buying new batteries at the FMCA RV Rally in Brooksville, FL; but the vendor had not received his stock for the show. Dan eventually found a very good price on batteries with a company in Texas, & we still saved money by paying for freight shipping to the Saia warehouse in New Orleans. This also allowed us to do some shopping at Costco in New Orleans.

Wednesday after what seemed like years talking about it, we headed to the Verizon store to see about upgrading our cell phones & plan. Our cell phone plan is the same plan we had with Cingular from over seven years. In Dan's opinion cell phone sales people rank right up there with used car salesmen! Long story, short, we now have two "smart" phones, & something called a jetpack; along with a sales receipt that must be four feet long!

Friday, the last day of the month, Joe finally made it back ashore from work. Meanwhile, Raymond rented a concrete saw & jack hammer to make a four by four "hole" in the concrete patio to access the broken sewer line. By doing this (& replacing the concrete after the repair) he saves close to $1000!