How bad is the damage?

 8:43 am - Thursday - May 7th - LPG&RVR - 62° F, humidity 32%, cloud cover 4%, wind 1 mph out of the south by southwest.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 79° F.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were working at Seal Rocks RV Cove on the Central Oregon coast....

enjoying another Coastal Oregon sunset.  One of our favorite workamping jobs!  This RV park had it all....ocean view, cool summer time temperatures, and great managers.  The view this morning....

We were up Wednesday a little earlier than normal on day two of our four day weekend so we could drive our 2001 VW Beetle into Alturas to be checked over by Junior at Junior's Automotive.  As you will recall, about 6 weeks ago the turbo water pump broke causing a massive coolant loss in just a few minutes as we were driving back to TWW on the north/south arterial dirt road.  I was able to order the new turbo water pump and install it myself, and the engine seemed to run fine, however, there was this loud rattle/rumble which had not been there before.  Of course, my mind took me to dark places where a bearing had gone bad, or perhaps the turbo did not survive the coolant loss.  I was expecting engine failure, or at best a large bill to replace the turbo.  Everyone here recommends Junior's Automotive, so that is where we headed around 8 am Wednesday morning.  Claude had a doctor appointment at 10 am, so this worked out perfectly.

We arrived at Junior's a little after 8:30 am and after reiterating the circumstances around the turbo water pump failure he advised he would do a compression check in each cylinder, pressure test the coolant system, and determine what was causing the rattle/rumble sound.  With that we got in Claude's GMC pickup (I called it a Chevrolet by mistake) and headed to the east side of town to the Stockyard Cafe (4.6 stars on Yelp on 53 reviews) located at the Modoc Auction Yard......

....for breakfast to kill some time before Claude's doctor appointment.  We've never eaten there before, mainly because they are a breakfast place, and we don't really have breakfast anymore, but it was a nice change of pace.  The food and service were excellent!

Our next stop was the Alturas Medical Center where we parted ways with Claude to walk over to Modoc Family Optometry to set our annual eye exams which will be June 1st, and then walked a block over to Holiday Market....

....to do our weekly shopping to restock our fridge, freezer and pantry.  Holiday Market is employee owned, and I think there are 16 Northern California stores in the chain.  The one in Alturas is a very nice store, and very well stocked.  We finished shopping around 10:40 am, but Claude was not done with his appointment so we hung out in front of the store (in the shade) awaiting his arrival.  The appointment went on longer than he expected, and he was not able to retrieve us until 11:20 am.  No problem....we're retired...we've got plenty of time.

We made another quick stop at Grocery Outlet, and were on our way home a little after 12 pm, arriving home without incident a little after 12:40 pm.  TLE put away the groceries then headed over to the Clubhouse to give Kathie her lunch break (we're taking turns), and I took a nap.  All that remains now is to find out the financial damage for the VW Beetle, and how long it will take to fix it.

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. - Quick update....heard from Junior about an hour ago about the VW.  He said the problem was a broken motor mount causing the engine to ride on the frame causing the loud rattle/rumble vibration sound.  Total cost to repair....$268...wait, what?  In my mind I thought it would be more like $2,680.  Nothing financially catastrophic?  As I write the VW is ready for pickup.  Bad news....I spent 6 weeks worrying about nothing...doh!

Filling in.....

 6:44 am - Wednesday - May 6th - LPG&RVR - 45° F, humidity 44%, cloud cover 4%, wind 2 mph out of the southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 78° F.  On this date in 2013 We arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.....

.....to work at the Indy 500.  We parked in a field on the north side of the Speedway where they had 30 amp electrical pedestals set up for workampers.  Worked 12 hours per day for 16 days up to and including the race.  The view this morning....

The freshly washed Beetle

Right now we do not have a person to work opposite me on the days I am off work, so Claude, TLE and I are filling in until we do have that person.  On days I don't work Claude is staging golf carts, then TLE and I are taking turns giving Kathie a break for lunch.  Around 4:30 pm Claude and I head over to wash, and stow the carts which have been rented, and returned.  Tuesday was the first day of that experiment, and it worked well.  Claude staged the carts, I gave Kathie her lunch break, and Claude and I returned at 4:30 pm to wash the carts....took about 30 minutes to wash and stow 12 carts.

During the day I took time to wash the VW Beetle for the first time since the turbo water pump broke.  We're driving it into Alturas on Wednesday to a repair shop to have the coolant system pressure checked, and the compression on each cylinder checked to sure the engine is okay.  I am hearing a loud rattle, or rumble that wasn't there before, so I am concerned the turbo may be fried.  I hope not as that is an expensive repair.  At any rate, We'll leave around 8 am to make the 20 minute drive into town.  Claude will follow in his extra cab Chevy pickup, and bring us home.  They'll have to have the VW overnight.

The rest of the day I washed the front of the Newell down to remove the road grime, and bugs which accumulated since we left Bishop, and then I was pretty much done for the day.  When I arrived at the Clubhouse at 1 pm to give Kathie her break the restaurant was busy with lunch customers, which is what we want to see.  The phone rang a lot during the hour I was there, but that was the extent of the work.  I was home a little after 2 pm, and then took a long nap.  It was a typical first day of our four day 'weekend'.

Thanks for stopping by!

A little decluttering....

 7:26 am - Tuesday - May 5th - LPG&RVR - 47° F, humidity 46%, cloud cover 44%, wind 4 mph out of the north by northwest....cloudy today with a forecast high of 73° F.  On this date in 2024 it was cold, and blustery at LPG&RVR.....

.....I stopped to take a selfie at the 15th hole on my way around the golf course.  Within an hour it began to snow.

The fourth day of or first four day shift began around 7:30 am when we headed over to the Clubhouse to open the office, and stage golf carts.  While TLE opened the office I staged 10 golf carts.  Ultimately we would rent 13 carts.  The original forecast for Monday was rain most of the day, but by Sunday evening the forecast showed NO rain Monday, and they were almost correct.  Around 8:30 pm that night it began to rain, and continued to rain on and off for much of the night.

It being a Monday I knew I needed to clear the driving range of golf balls in advance of it being mowed by DeWayne, but he had told me he would not be getting to it until after 3 pm, so I decided to take care of that after I gave TLE her lunch break.  Normally, I would have done it before lunch.  Anyway, since it was a Monday, and there was not much to do other than hang out around the Clubhouse I decided to declutter the 'Caddy Shack' work bench.  Over the winter the work bench becomes a 'catchall' for unfinished projects, etc., and trying to find anything on it, or do any work on it is impossible.  I usually wait for a rainy day, which I thought Monday was going to be, to do this.  Within  a couple of hours I had discarded old boxes, broken bolts, old electrical plugs, etc. and had things pretty ship shape, and it was just about time to give TLE her lunch break.

The restaurant is closed on Mondays so it was very quiet in the Clubhouse.  I took a few phone calls, answered a few questions for customers, and checked in 5, or 6 arrivals.  Pretty laid back stuff.  After TLE returned I headed out to the driving range to garner as many golf balls as I could before Dewayne arrived to mow.  In all I collected about 10 gallons of balls (2 five gallon buckets) over 90 minutes of walking up and down the range, which is 250 yards in length, and about 100 yards wide.  By the time I finished, and put the range balls to soaking in their buckets I was around 2 pm, and I still had 90 minutes before I began my four day weekend.  Over the time I was on the driving range 8 of the 13 rented golf carts had been returned so I took my time washing and stowing them.  No more carts had been returned by 3:30 pm so I headed home for a nice shower, and nap before returning to the Clubhouse around 4:40 pm to find the final five carts had been returned.  I had them washed and stowed by 4:55 pm, then headed down to the 'Night Office' to post the availability for late arrivals, then retrieved TLE from the office, and headed, once again for home.

Our first four day shift could not have gone more smoothly, and now we can sleep in for the next four mornings before returning to our 'up at 5:30 am' routine.  Went went to bed M0nday evening to the sound of a gentle rain on our riveted aircraft aluminum roof....nice!

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. - In April we had 189,000 page views of our humble blog....the most ever in all the years I have been blogging.  Within a couple of months we'll cross over 4,000,000 all time page views.

Laid back Sunday......

 5:49 am - Monday - May 4th - LPG&RVR - 43° F, humidity 58%, cloud cover 50%, wind 3 mph out of the northwest.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 73° F.  On this date in 2018 TLE and I were in Lockport, NY at the local Elks Lodge.....

.....right across the street from the Erie Canal.  We stopped there on our way to Maine to visit Niagara Falls, which was not too far away from Lockport.

For some reason TLE and I are settling into our 4 days of work, and 4 days off routine pretty easily this year.  I'm sure at some point in the future I'll be counting the days until our next four day weekend, but for now that is not the case.  We're just taking each day as it comes, and it has all been pretty non-stressful so far.  The restaurant is busy, so that is a good thing.  Word has spread around the ranching community quickly that the restaurant is open again, and on Sunday we had quite a few ranchers showing up for brunch.

I'm not sure if I mentioned that the 'old' Night Office was removed this past winter (old mobile home) and replaced with a shed type structure, and here are some pictures of it....

The self registration desk

The new corkboard where we affix the envelopes for late arrivals

The new 'Night Office'

Where the old mobile home was....eventually the dirt area will be filled with grass once all the old utilities are removed

.....to begin the day I staged 5 Yamaha gassers, and we eventually rented 14 carts, 7 of which did not return until after I headed home at 3:30 pm, so I'll have those to wash Monday morning.  There were six Yamaha gassers left over from Saturday so I eventually washed them and staged them again for rental.

Sundays are pretty laid back work days here at LPG&RVR.  We don't mow on the weekends, but even if we did all the mowing has been done.  I moved a few sprinklers around the grass area down at the 'Night Office', but that was pretty much the extent of work I did other than washing 7 of the 14 carts rented as they were slowly returned.  I spent a good portion of my work day talking with customers, and rarely left the Clubhouse area for more than 10 minutes to move sprinklers down at the 'Night Office'.

I went home around 3:30 pm, took a long, hot shower, then took a nap before returning to the Clubhouse a little after 5 pm to give TLE a ride home.  Overall our 3rd of 4 work days went smoothly.

Thanks for stopping by!

Same old, same old.....

 5:52 am - Sunday - May 3rd - LPG&RVR - 55° F, humidity 37%, cloud cover 93%, wind 9 mph out of the northwest.....very cloudy today with a forecast high of 70° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were in Lake Tahoe for our 4th summer working at Tahoe Valley Campground.  The snows from the just ended winter were epic, and the result was the flooding of the Truckee River in Tahoe City....

.....the river was so high the bicycle path was covered, and would remain so for another month.

Since one of our customers had scheduled an 8 am tee time TLE and I were at the Clubhouse by 7:30 am.  I initially staged 10 golf carts, and we ended up renting 11....not bad for our second day.  The weather was delightful with temps in the low 70's and very little wind.  After staging the golf carts I picked up the two barrels of hoses and distributed them around the park, then began watering the grass around the 'Night Office', and the parking lot grass for the first time in 6 months.

Around 10:45  am I fired up the 2 bag Husqvarna and headed out to the golf course mow the tee boxes at 3, 10, 15, 16, 17 and 18.....

.....after finishing the tee box at 15 I snapped a couple of pictures....the golf course in in wonderful shape right now.  I was back to the Clubhouse around 11:55 am, and sent TLE on her lunch break.  The hour passed quickly, and soon I was back on the Husqvarna heading up the hill to the three residential lawns which haven't been mowed in 6 months.  Over the course of the afternoon I continued to move the sprinklers I had running, and washed 5 of the 11 carts we had rented (the Club Car electrics).  Soon it was 3:30 pm, and time to head home to change clothes and return for the weekly putting contest.

I putted well in the first round winning 3 out of the 5 holes, and I putted pretty well in the second round, but after 5 holes we were tied so we went to a one hole 'putt off' where each person takes one putt at a designated hole, and whoever is closest after the one putt advances.  I putted first (about a 35' putt) and left my ball about 2 feet from the hole.  My opponent then putted leaving his ball 18" from the hole...doh!  Ultimately, last year's over all champion, Rich Samco, won.  As always it was a lot of fun.

TLE and I were home around 5:20 pm.  Our second day was very smooth with no glitches, which is always nice.  Saturday night was 'hump night'....just two more days left in our 4 day shift.

Thanks for stopping by!

Opening Day.....

 6:03 am - Saturday - May 2nd - LPG&RVR - 47° F, humidity 33%, cloud cover 84%, wind 3 mph out of the southeast....heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 70° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were overnighting at the Hagerstown, MD Walmart Supercenter.....

....so we could drive over to Gettysburg the next day to tour the battlefield.  We stayed there two nights, and spent a whole day at Gettysburg.  One of the giant items on our bucket list.....

Little Round Top

.....one of the most unforgettable places we have visited.  That night after returning to Hagerstown we watched the entire 'Gettysburg' movie, finishing around 2 am.  After having been there, the movie was that much more meaningful.

So, at last, we arrive at May 1st, opening day for Likely Place Golf and RV Resort.  Since we knew the day would not get too busy until the afternoon as customers began to arrive in their RV's, we didn't report for work until just before 8 am.  I staged the five Club Car electrics, and then spent time redistributing all the hoses I had coiled up in trash cans last October.  In all we rented just four golf carts Friday, and they were all back before 4 pm.

Late morning I washed the three Yamaha gassers that were returned late Thursday, and then took a ride around the course to check on those tee boxes for which I am responsible to mow.  The consensus?  They all need mowing.....now.

After giving TLE her lunch break I retrieved the 2 bag Husqvarna, my favorite mower, and mowed the employee sites.  As I was finishing the final site I had to get off the mower to move some lawn furniture, and when I got back on the mower it would not go forward, or backward.  Well, that's never happened to me before.  I called Jose to let him know my problem, and he was there within 10 minutes to help me figure out what was wrong.  As it turns out, the drive belt had come off its pullies, so we tipped the mower on its side so Jose could reach in and reseat the drivebelt onto the pullies.  It took a while, but within 20 minutes he succeeded, and I was able to continue mowing.  Next up was the grass down by the night office, which took about 30 minutes.  By the time I finished it was after 3 pm, and there was not enough time to mow the tee boxes, so I headed back to the Clubhouse to await the return of the 4 Club Car electrics.

By the time I finished washing and drying them, and putting them back in the Cart Shack it was 4 pm, and time for me to head for home.  As I did last season, I worked 8 straight hours including the 1 hour lunch break for TLE.  I took a long, hot shower, and then took a short nap before heading back to the Clubhouse to retrieve TLE at  5 pm.  Friday was the first night dinner was being served in the restaurant, and there were at least 6 people taking advantage of that.  By the end of the day the park was about 40% full, and should fill up sometime Saturday.  It was a good first day, and everything went as planned.

Thanks for stopping by!

More site setup......

 5:55 am - Friday - May 1st - LPG&RVR - 39° F, humidity 30%, cloud cover 36%, wind 4 mph out of the southeast......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 73° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were visiting the National Portrait Museum in Washington D.C.....

Benjamin Franklin

.....this portrait of Abraham Lincoln intrigued me.

After spending almost 5 hours working on golf carts Wednesday I rededicated myself to working on the setup for our site.  TLE wanted the main sunshade deployed, so that was our first task of the day....

....next we spent time finishing the weeding on the 'dining/gaming deck', then raked it level before moving our picnic table in, and then setting up our brand new umbrella....

....eventually we'll buy some more artificial turf for the 'dining/gaming deck', then set up our dining canopy, but for now it is ready for use.

Around 1:30 pm I met Claude over at the Clubhouse putting green to work on our putting for the upcoming putting contest this Saturday.  The green was just mowed Wednesday, and now the speed is perfect.  I prefer faster greens.  We putted for about an hour, or so, and Claude steadily improved winning our final 5 hole contest 2-1.

Last summer I removed 3 windshields from three of the Yamaha gassers that had been so damaged by UV rays that they were barely functional.  We had just been discussing what to do with those windshields Wednesday when Jose suggested we see if we could install them on some of the employee carts.  Kathie, who is the office manager, wanted her cart to be the first, so I took her cart, and one of the windshields over to my trailer to see what I could do.  In their original new condition the top piece of the windshield could be folded down, but the hinge connecting the upper and lower windshields (plastic) had broken, so I used 6 self tapping screws to firmly affix both pieces of the windshield to the frame.  The upper piece can no longer be folded down, but it will provide some protection from rain, and the cold morning air.  I'll take a picture today (Thursday) of the installation and post it Friday.

Around 5 pm I lit the Sea-B-Que to grill a couple of steaks for dinner.  We invited Claude to join us, and he brought is own steak.  We sat down to eat around 5:30 pm, and enjoyed an nice hour of conversation and food.  TLE provided a side salad.  It was nice to sit outside with balmy breezes blowing, and NO mosquitoes.  We know they'll arrive soon, but Thursday there were none.

Time to get ready for our first day of work.....thanks for stopping by!