17 Dec 21 - Unloading the Truck

the 60 gal bed fuel tank appears to be full and $3.39 a gallon what is a little bit of money.  The tank doesn't seem to be damaged, but I cant remove it with that much weight in it.  If they total the truck it will be a lost.

This morning we got a rental truck from just down the street and moved all the things in the bed from the black truck to the rental.

The corner of the bed was bent by the collision.
 

16 Dec 21 - 2:09 pm, Asheville NC - Rear Ended by a Semi

We were traveling East on I-40 in Asheville NC at the I-26 interchange at 2:10 pm when traffic slowed at the exit.  We were in the deceleration lane in stop and go traffic, with a line of cars ahead of us and behind us.  The line of traffic started to move, and so did we. A gap behind us opened because the semi behind us didn’t take off as fast as we did.  Another semi was in the slow lane passing the stopped cars and decided to enter the deceleration lane to exit onto I-26.  I saw him make the lane change looking in his passenger side mirror.  As he was making his lane change traffic ahead of me stopped again.  When he looked back at the brake lights he started applying the brakes.  I saw him coming!  I had time to say “NO, NO, NO!” and he hit us!  He may have been going 35 – 40 mph when he rear ended us.  Kathy had time to look up from her phone as she was looking for a hotel in the Columbia, SC area, our intended stopping point for the night.  The semi was “Rolling heavy” according to the driver while talking to me after the accident.  We never heard brakes or tires squealing from his attempt to stop.  When he hit us, mom and Kathy were very surprised because I didn’t have time to say what was about the happen, nor could I find the words.  It happened in slow motion, but very quickly.  Oscar, mom’s cat, in his carrier, came up onto the center console with very wide eyes.  The impact drove us into a small white Honda Civic driven by a lawyer on his way to Brevard NC for a court hearing.  The white Honda was driven into the semi trailer in front of him damaging both the front end and rear end of his car. 

When the truck came to a stop and everyone regained their senses the cab was started to smoke and mom and Kathy thought we were on fire.  So Kathy and I got out and started looking around to see where the smoke was coming from.  There was nothing under the truck smoking but it was coming from the air bags in the B pillar, the post between the front door and the rear door.  At the base of the seat belts there are small air bags and both the drivers and passengers seat belts were locked up no longer able to retract or advance.  The smoke soon cleared.  After checking to see that everyone was OK physically, I proceeded to check the other vehicles and drivers.  But before I could exit the vehicle the OnStar operator activated, informing us that we had been in a wreck and asking several questions.  The police arrived shortly thereafter and collected our documents and had us move 3 of the vehicles involved in the wreck off the ramp and down to a safer shoulder just down I-26.  The semi that hit us was leaking antifreeze from a hole in its radiator that my receiver hitch made upon contact, he had to be towed from the scene. 

While we waited on the police officer to complete his report, I talked with the Honda driver and the semi driver that he contacted.  Kathy was making phone calls to get us a place to stay close by and trying to contact USAA to report the accident, find a dealer with a body shop and one or two other things.  Our life360 app that each of us have on our phones notified each other that we had been in an accident, cool feature by the way.

Around 4 pm we were released by the police officer and we drove the truck to the hotel that Kathy had reserved while setting on the side of the road.  She had also rented a truck from Enterprise so we could finish the journey home in the morning.  Enterprise was less than a one mile walk from the hotel, which made it easy in the morning for me to walk down and get the truck. 

Once we were at the hotel and unloaded, I called USAA to report the accident.  While on the phone with them going over the details of the damage to the truck the representative said the truck would more than likely be totaled because one air bag had went off, we didn’t realize yet that both seat belt air bags had deployed making the belts useless.  The USAA representative was very helpful and great to work with.

 

15 Dec 21 - Movers!

 The movers arrived at 8:30 this morning and were loaded and gone by 11:30.  We left the house at 12:15 heading south.

14 Dec 21 - Oscar is ready to roll!

 Oscar doesn't want to be left behind!

14 Dec 21 - Frost!

Got a little frost on the truck this morning!

 

12 Dec 21 - It got a little cold last night.

 Looks like the bird bath froze a little last night.

11 Dec 21 - 30 MPH Winds in Benton Harbor, MI

 

4-5 Dec 21 - Clash Endurance Daytona Triathalon Work

One of the other motors got to go on the roof with his media guy and got this picture.

This is me with my camera man going into turn one, well on the apron anyway.  Too steep in the corners for the speed we were going. 

Heading to turn one!
 

4 Dec 21 - Triathalon Work at the Speedway

I got to go into the Daytona 500 Club!  Very nice building which has the winners circle just outside the doors.

This is the TV crews ride.  The announcer sets in the front seat and the camera man sets facing backwards. 

Transition zone from bicycle ride to running for the pro class on Saturday's race.

My windshield card to let me into the speedway.
 

18 Nov 21 - Brinley's Rattle Finished

 A couple more coats of bee's Oil and it will be ready to give her.

18 Nov 21 - Rattle finished

Rattle for a friends new grand baby.

 

1 Nov 21 - Water Supply Hose for RV

Today while flushing the black tank and cleaning the camper from spending the past 5 weeks down south I got some green water in the bathroom sink.  I decided to cut the hose apart and found this inside!  Time to replace the hose.  Pretty nasty!
 

19 Nov 21 - 100,000 miles on the truck

From 99,999 to....

100,000 miles and just like that my extended warranty is expired!
 

27 Sep 21 - Dental Appointment for a new crown and amalgum removal

 The dental office makes the crown while you wait!  Pretty cool and expensive machine.

A jar full of the crown material that is left over from making the crown in the machine.

One of the waste pieces from the jar.

26 Sep 21 - Clean Truck

Got the truck clean today!

Boondocking for the night at the dentist office.  I have an appointment in the morning then we are going to Hollie's area for a week.
 

25 Sep 21 - House Photo

House is looking good!  A lot of work has happened in the past few years.
 

24 Sep 21 - Baby Hatchlings

This morning while walking the beach we came upon the Turtle Patrol releasing 2 hatchlings from a nest that had hatched last night.  Don't know why these 2 didn't get out before morning, but they got some help.  

 

The foot keeping the turtle going in the right direction belonged to the Turtle Patrol lady. 

22 Sep 21 - Sink Hole Repair

The septic tank guy came out this morning and mixed up a bag of quick setting concrete and filled in the gap in the septic tank lid. 

He couldn't answer why it took 16 years for the dirt to start going into the tank, but he knows this will stop it from doing that.

Lets hope that fixes it!  Now to fill in the hole and probably get more top soil to top it off!
 

21 Sep 21 - Sink Hole Development!

On Saturday we noticed a depression in the grass between the house and the paver walkway.  This stake is a 36 inch survey marker at the top of the hole.

This is the same stake down into the hole until it hits dirt. 

Oh, looking into the hole there is a sprinkler line so that might be the reason for the depression if the line is leaking.  So I turned on the sprinklers to check for a leak.  No leak was seen. 

Well, back in 2005 we had the septic system abandoned and hooked up to city sewer.  The proposal and receipt shows they were supposed to fill in the septic tank with dirt.  Notice the seam between the 2 halves of the septic tank cover?  Looks like the tank did not get filled and the heavy rain last night washed some of the dirt into the tank.  A technician from the plumbing company is supposed to be here in the morning to evaluate the situation.  Why did it take 16 years to develop?  Very interesting!
 

19 Sep 21 - Pool Border Finished!

Finished the edging around the pool and laundry room today!

We had to get 20 bags of top soil to build up the ground to hold all the edging in place.

I also took out the landscape timbers which were full of ants and put the concrete edging in front of the shed/shop.  Looks much better and going to be easier to trim for the lawn guy.
 

18 Sep 21 - Pool Border Day 2

We finished around the pool today!

The end of the pool cage completed.

We had to go to Lowes tonight to get edging for the shed area and top soil to bring up the grade along the laundry room.  Kathy dug out most of the rocks with a shovel and sifted the dirt out of them to get this spot ready for the edging.  Going to try and finish today depending on rain of course.
 

16 Sep 21 - Border around the Pool Cage

Setting up for the task of putting a border around the pool cage to protect the screen from the string trimmer.  The yard guy has been saying it is hard to trim around the pool because he doesn't want to puncture the screens with his trimmer. 

So today we started putting concrete edging around the pool!

Before pictures.

We started on the end first.

Got the end in place.

East side is in place.

East side and end.

Working on the west side.

We ran out of gas at 5 pm tonight.  More tomorrow afternoon, hopefully we can finish it tomorrow.