I’ve been thinking about selling my truck for the past year. Shelley and I had gotten tired of spending days on the road, even though we loved being different places. All the time getting there stopped being any fun. I’ve been holding off doing anything permanent, thinking there’s a chance I could change my mind. But now that I’m flying solo, there is very little chance that I’ll want to take the rig back onto the road.
We loved living in the RV, and that has been my plan up until recently. A few weeks ago the Ping Pong bug hit me, and I started investigating whether I could buy a table tennis table and fit it into my driveway. Turns out that I could. I also started checking to see if there were places nearby to go play ping pong, and I found a table tennis club just a few miles from here at Sun City.
Well, I checked into it, and in order to participate in activities like that at Sun City you have to be a resident. So I looked at what other activities they have going on there and holy moly, it’s a veritable Disneyland for seniors over there!
So I made arrangements to take a tour, and about 10 minutes into the tour I was completely sold. Three golf courses, pickleball and tennis courts everywhere, ceramics, stained glass, and wood shops, etc. Wow!
So I’ve sold the truck and I am house hunting. I’ll need to purchase something on the small side, and of course coming from an RV I have absolutely no furniture. But I’m very excited about this. I do have an air mattress we used for overnight guests, and some nice patio furniture, so I should be good to go for a while.
So this will be a transition from “Where in the world are Ron & Shelley today” to “What in the world activity is Ron doing today”!
Woohoo!
ps. I’ll add more pictures to this post once I’ve found a house.
It’s hard to believe that it has been exactly two months already. Maybe I’m still in total denial, but this has been a very blessed period of my life. Yes, I’m sad and I miss Shelley, and I wish she was still here. I always will. But I can see a new phase of my life starting. And I’ve been shown just how very many people love me and care about me. So many people have reached out to me, and continue to check up on me. A Sally Fields line comes to mind 🙂
I’m starting to read books and blogs about being a widower. The book I’m reading now is “The Widower’s Journey: Helping Men Rebuild After Their Loss” by Herb Knoll. In addition to citing a lot of study results and statistics, it includes a lot of widower personal stories. I’m learning about depression and PTSD. I don’t think I’ve ever suffered even mild depression before. But for a few weeks there I thought that my inability (or lack of desire) to get off the couch and do anything was just my allergies 🙂
I must say that I feel lucky and encouraged reading these other widower stories. I guess that I feel lucky because of the timing of this thing. While caring for Shelley, I had started doing most of the cooking and household chores (if you can call heating up an HEB Meal Simple or can of something actually cooking). So I wasn’t left clueless in that regard like many widowers. I’ve been picking out the healthier Meal Simple dinners, mostly salmon or chicken, so I think my diet is pretty good. Eventually I’m going to try my hand at stir frying in my new wok, but I’ll leave that for another day.
And I have a dog, so I’m not totally alone when I am at home. The book I’m reading mentions how helpful having a pet can be. I agree!
The areas I need to work on are the same areas that existed before Shelley left; exercise, more social contact, less TV, less ice cream & desserts. So I’m making a real effort in that area. I’ve even joined a support group to help eliminate my after-dinner-binge-eating. Jesus has His work cut out for him with me there. I don’t seem to want to help much.
I’ve spent a lot of time going over to my son Brian and his wife Tracy’s house. She’s fed me a lot! And it doesn’t take much time with my granddaughter Scarlett to really cheer me up.
And the rest of the family has been calling to check up on me, and Jackie sends me pictures of my newest granddaughter Melody Grace.
I’ve been pretty busy fixing up the RV. Moving Shelleys stuff into storage has left me a bunch of space I never had before. Of course the first things I did was move to Shelley side of the bed, which is way better than the side I had been sleeping on because I had to crawl over the bed to get to it. And I moved my clothes into her (bigger) closets. I’ve also converted her sewing area into a little game table/dining-for-one area.
And yes, I’ve moved the piano into the living room. This is becoming my man cave now.
I’m currently in the process of going through all the kitchen cabinets. I’m going to get rid of all the Collard Greens and other stuff that I don’t like. It suddenly dawned on me that those cabinets are full of stuff that I will never cook or eat. Ever! So off to the food bank it goes. Do they even accept collard greens at a food bank?
So I’m keeping very busy. It helps a lot. I volunteer at the small public library for a couple hours each week. I bowl in a league one night a week. I meet with friends for lunch or coffee once or twice a week. I attend church on Saturdays, and have joined the worship team where I will be playing keys one weekend a month (all five services!).
God has been very good to me, and I truly feel thankful, even if that is while being sad and occasionally through some tears.
Shelley’s memorial was held at All Faiths Funeral Services on August 2, 2024.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: For thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Psalm 23
Ron’s Witness
I met Shelley in 1990 at a Bethany church single's group dance. I remember being impressed with what a joy and how easy it was to dance with her. Little did I know then that that dance was only the first of what would become 34 years of joyously dancing through life with her.
Marriage About a year later we were married. I had joked with her that I was an old fashioned sort of guy, and wouldn't propose to her until she'd met my mother in LA and had gotten Mom's blessing. Many months went by, and we finally packed up all the kids and made a trip to LA. I think it was on our 3rd day in LA that we all went to Disneyland. I think that Shelley had thought that I would propose to her the day that we got to LA after meeting my mom, but by the 3rd she had totally forgotten about it. You see, Shelley had been an instant hit with my family, blending in as if we had all known her for years. (I'm guessing many of you here have experienced that same feeling with her). Well when we got to the castle at the end of Main Street, I handed the the old VHS video camera to Brian and walked her over to an alcove on the bridge, dropped to one knee and proposed. My family cheered behind us as Shelley accepted.
We didn't get a video of that. In my excitement I had failed to tell Brian what was happening, so he was off filming the top of Cinderella's castle when the proposal happened. We did reenact the proposal years later, which is the picture we put in the rotation.
We were married several months later, the beginning of what would become 33 very happy years married together.
Blending Families But the first few years had some pretty tough spots in it. We both had unknowingly carried our brokenness from our previous lives and marriages into our new marriage. We found out that blending families is really hard! We got counseling, and we facilitated a Blended Families SS class. We learned that the odds were not good. At that time, about 50% of all marriages in the US ended in divorce, even among Christians. But for 2nd marriages involving kids that number went up to over 90%.
We knew then that the only way we'd ever survive those odds was to put Jesus at the very center of our marriage and family. We did, and 33 years later I can say with certainty that that was a very good decision. Jesus poured His blessings onto us. Thank you, Jesus.
Shelley was Frugal Those that knew Shelley very well know that she was very frugal. She loved to shop, mainly at garage sales and thrift stores. But she didn't buy much, maybe spending a few dollars. One time we went to Sam's Club to pick up bulk supplies for our family of 6, and we played a game of pretending that we each had $1,000 dollars to spend. Of course, I hadn't gotten 25 feet before I'd spent all my $1,000 dollars on a big screen TV. But by the time we finished shopping an hour later, Shelley had only managed to spend $34 of that imaginary $1,000. I don't recall what it was, but it was probably something to give to someone else.
Shelley Loved to Travel That girl loved to travel, and boy did we. We down-sized to an RV about 15 years ago, and most of the family thought we were nuts. Maybe we were? But we loved traveling together. She even traveled on her own a few times to visit with Brian and grandkids when I had to work. These weren't short trips either: Alaska one time, Korea another time. Shelley and I also traveled to nearly every state including Hawaii, Israel, Egypt, and even an African safari in Kenya.
Shelley was Calm Under Pressure Shelley was amazingly calm under pressure. I remember she was out one day and called me at home. She asked me what I was doing, and if I could come pick her up. I asked her what was going on, and she said she'd been in an accident. From her tone of voice I just assumed it was a little fender bender. I asked her if the car was still drivable, and she replied, "No, it's flipped over upside down". I asked if she was ok, and she said "Yes, I think so. I'm hanging upside down in the seat and the EMTs are working to get me out of the car". She said she was fine, except that the Sonic Diet LimeAid she'd just bought was now above her and was dripping on her.
Shelley Loved Everyone Shelley loved everyone, and even strangers could sense that. I recall several times at various stores with her where total strangers would walk up to her and start telling her their life stories and troubles. She had a God given gift of bringing comfort to others, even strangers. I remember Jackie asking her one time: Did you know that lady? She just smiled and said "I didn't, but I guess I do now".
Cancer The last 18 years of her life were spent dealing with cancer on and off. But she remained very up-beat, and didn't let it get her down. Honestly, we always felt very blessed. She was always surrounded by very dear friends and family through every ordeal, and her faith remained strong. We've lived a very full life even through it all. The cancer started some time in 2005 when we noticed a lump in one of her breasts. She always got her regular mammograms, but they hadn't shown anything wrong. The lump seemed to keep getting bigger, but her regular mammograms still didn't show anything. So in 2006 they sent us to a breast surgeon to take a closer look. I remember waiting in the doctor's office, with all the "clear" mammograms hung up on the wall. The doctor walked in looking like "Well, let's take a look and we'll get you out of here". But that's not how it went. A few years later I wrote a song about that experience. I'd like to close by playing it for you.
Cloud of Angels We had expected the news would be good. 
And it was clear at the start that the doctor thought the same. 
But the look on his face when he saw it said all he needed to say.
Emotion spread through that room like a flash. Intense confusion, shock disbelief, anger, dread, and fear. This was a day that would change everything, starting down a long scary road.
I’m so sorry that you had to travel down that road. But I thank God that He would not let you go alone. He sent so many to help us along the way that it felt like we’d been wrapped in a cloud of angels.
So many new things to learn, we would never have chosen to know. We had to get good at scheduling things; appointments, treatments, but then you were amazing your faith was so strong it helped us all to hang on.
I’m so sorry that you had to travel down that road. But I thank God that He would not let you go alone. He sent so many to help us along the way that it felt like we’d been wrapped in a cloud of angels.
They say that after 5 years you’ve made it; the danger is finally past. We’re over half way there now and I know that we’re going to make it. Cause the One that sent us those angels is still watching over you now.
I’m so sorry that you had to travel down that road. But I thank God that He would not let you go alone. He sent so many to help us along the way that it felt like we’d been wrapped in a cloud of angels, a cloud of angels God thank you for your angels
Brian’s Witness
My mother was an amazing woman. Since 2006, she fought against the monster that was cancer and time and time again she won. That’s just what she did. She made up her mind and she powered through the darkness. Faith, optimism and perseverance were her touchstones. For every set back she experienced there was a solution. Prayer.
Cancer diagnosis? She and Ron, prayed, they beat it and then bought motorcycles to ride across the country. Losing her hair from chemo, pray, then put on a wig or a scarf. Lymphedema, pary and then go get massages and wore a special sleeve to keep the swelling down. Finances were getting tight? It was time to pray again because God will provide. And He did. She and Ron received a blessing and decided to buy an RV and travel the country again. Sons were deploying to combat zones, start a prayer circle, send care packages and pray, pray, pray. Through all of this she loved her family passionately and unconditionally, she attacked life with passion and joy. And she prayed. That’s the kind of faith my mother had.
Truth be told, I’m not ready for this. Personally I think God took her home too soon. And I sit here and I wonder why? Why now? I’ll be perfectly honest, If we compared our faith to football, she’d be the Super Bowl Champions and I’d be the High School JV B-Team. It’s not even close.
Maybe that’s the reason I ask why? Why at this moment with two brand new granddaughters for her to love and cherish. Why? With a husband who was so dearly devoted to her that they should write books about their relationship, why? I’m angry, I’m upset, I feel cheated. For 47 years she’s been my rock, my world, my shelter through the storms of life. For 33 years she was married to the love of her life and for a great portion of those years she was fighting for her life. Again, why? Whether I was struggling with the heartache from love lost, the trials and tribulations of strange and cruel circumstance or I was halfway around the world on some Godforesaken battlefield, she was there. With a prayer, a kind word or simply an open ear, she was there. And now she’s gone? Why? I’ve been praying and thinking on this question for two weeks now. And in true Shelley Lisle, faithful servant of Christ fashion, I realized she’s been giving me the answers to the test my entire life.
I went through a divorce in 2011 and of course my mom was right there to help me mend. I was broken. As a man, as a father, and as a husband. I had to burn down the person I’d become and rebuild myself and I was scared to death. I had no idea how to do that. Mom was there to listen, to hug me tight, to love me and comfort me, and to hold me accountable. And then, one day I noticed yellow sticky notes started to appear at my house after she had visited and left. There must have been 30 of these notes in all and to be honest, at first I read them and then tossed them aside. I was hurting and this was overly positive, Shelley Lisle mom-speak. I had better things to do like wallow in my own self-pity after all.
But, one night, weeks after I started receiving these notes I was sitting on my back porch, alone, and the power went out in the neighborhood. Normally the street lights along that road would remain on. But they were out too. And I could see the stars. And it hit me. I ran back inside the house and started rummaging through the trash and old envelopes laying around, I tore up the whole house. And I found 10 of them and I began to read. The first two I believe I had stuck on my refrigerator. The first note was Jeremiah 29:11 , she wrote “For I know the plans I have for you, Brian, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” The next note read, “When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.” Ralph Waldo Emerson I was dumfounded. So started reading the others: “When everything is going against you, remember, the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it,” Henry Ford “The greatest part of our happiness depends on our disposition, not our circumstance.” Martha Washington “It’s not whether you get knocked down. It’s whether you get back up again.” Vince Lombardi
It hadn’t even occurred to me but I had carried a card she gave me just before I left for Ranger School in my wallet in 1997. I pulled out my wallet and read the card, Isaiah 40:31 “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” This wasn’t mom speak this was lessons for life that I needed to hear but I had refused to listen. That was the moment I started to heal and from that day forward those sticky notes were taped to my bathroom mirror. They’ve been taped there everyday for me to see for more than 13 years. That was my mom. And it wasn’t just these pearls of wisdom and faith written on some sticky notes. She gave counsel and wisdom like this her whole life directly and subtly. She had the gift of discernment and she weilded it like a shepherd protecting her flock.
I could stand here and tell you story after story of my mother’s faith in action. But we’d be here for days. She gave everything she had for everyone she loved and she never asked for anything in return. She was tough, she was tenacious, she was loving and she was full of grace.
Mom, I loved the funny memes and the jokes we would share back and forth. I will miss your discernment, I will miss our summer vacations across the country, I’ll miss Saturday football watching the Horns and the Bears as we yell at the TV screen, I’ll miss our long rambling talks about God, and life, and love and politics and Joe Ledger novels and The Martian and Supernatural. I’ll miss going to the movies on holidays and coming back to sit around the table and eat too much pie, while I beat Ron at Scrabble over and over. Well, come to think of it I’ll still eat too much pie and beat Ron at Scrabble.
Mom, your laugh made my heart sing, your prayers made my heart strong and now that you're gone my heart is utterly and completely broken. In time, I know, it will heal, and this pain too shall pass. I know that. And I do know that God has a plan. I will put my life in His hands as you did.
I will try to live by your lessons and I will pray, as you prayed. And I will continue to read the notes that I have taped to my bathroom mirror even after all these years. My favorite is the final message you wrote on those sticky notes...
She wrote - The Message from Phillippians 4:8 “Brian, you’ll do best by filling your mind and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious - the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly, things to praise - not things to curse. Put into practice what you have learned from me... Do that and God, who makes everything work together, will work you, Brian, into his most excellent harmonies.”
My mother was an amazing woman.
Lord thank you for blessing me, and our family, with the gift of such a wonderful mother, wife, sister and friend. She was true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious, beautiful, worthy of praise, the best mom a boy could ever hope to have.
Lord, she's yours now. Bless her and keep her safe within your arms.
And, Lord, if you could please, tell her and Joe to finally get the recipe from Gogee for his barbeque sauce and send it back down here. We would really appreciate it, Lord. Amen.
The Apostle’s Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Photos Displayed Before/After Service
Music Played During Photos
Dancing With The Angels (Monk & Neagle)
When I get to where I’m going (Brad Paisley with Dolly Parton)
Shelley was active in supporting the Komen Foundation. In lieu of flowers, many made donations to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Her fund raiser page is here
Rochelle “Shelley” Lisle November 28, 1951-July 22, 2024
Shelley Lisle of Liberty Hill, TX, passed away on July 22, 2024 and is united in Heaven with her mother, Willa Jean Bowdoin, stepfather George Bowdoin, father, Herman Lee Wall, and brother, Dennis “Joe” Wall.
Shelley grew up in Victoria, Texas and graduated from Lanier High School in Austin. She attended the University of Texas at Austin and earned a bachelors in education.
A person of deep faith, Shelley met her husband Ron in the Spring of 1990 at Bethany United Methodist Church. They were married in January 1991. Uniting their two families, they built their life rooted in their faith in God and deep love for each other. Shelley was an outstanding mom. She encouraged her children to explore their world through a broad array of pursuits ranging from church youth groups, theatre, choir and sports. Shelley’s personal interests included sewing, gardening, cooking, singing, traveling, and volunteering with her church.Â
Shelley was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006. Over the next 18 years, she chose to live a life filled with adventure and a passion for the blessing of each new day. She obtained a motorcycle license, learned to scuba dive, and turned in their house keys for an RV to travel the United States and Canada.
It is her warm heart, beautiful laughter, and enduring love that will remain in the hearts of all who knew Shelley. She will forever be remembered as a faithful servant of God, a loving and devoted wife, and the best mom to her children and grandchildren.
Shelley is survived by her devoted husband of 33 years, Ron Lisle; her children, Brian Payne and wife Tracy; Aaron Payne and wife Valerie; Jessie Lisle and partner Tyler Barker; Jackie Lisle and partner Rhys Topo; six grandchildren, Ethan, Gillian, Scarlett, Lacey, JT, and Melody; two sisters Vickie Hetzel and Jukie Faust; her two brothers Scott Gilliam and Brick Wall; and many nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Susan G. Komen Foundation at https://tinyurl.com/ShelleyLisle.
Since we won’t be spending the summer in Canada, we’ve been looking at how to keep the RV cool when the temperatures start hitting 100°. Last Summer we were in Dallas when the temperatures went over 110° and the temperatures inside the RV got over 90°.
The steps we took to try to keep cool this were:
Get as much shade as possible
Install fans
Optimize the A/C flow to the areas needed
Getting As Much Shade As Possible
So we started out by finding an RV site that had at least some shade. We searched around the RV parks in Liberty Hill, and was blessed to find one fairly close at Rio Bonito II. It isn’t full shade, but has a lot of afternoon shade.
The next step was to install our ShadeRV roof shade. We had purchased this while we were in Dallas. To be honest, I’m not sure how much good this does. It definitely keeps most of the roof out of the sun.
Installing it isn’t very tough. It just rolls out from one end to the other.
Installing Fans
The next step was to install fans in the living room and office.
Optimize A/C Flow
The final, and perhaps most important step was to make sure that the air conditioning was functioning efficiently and delivering the air to where we need it.
Our RV has 3 air conditioners, one each in the
Bedroom
Living Room
Office (garage)
The air conditioning ducts on most big RVs is configured in a big loop, referred to as a “race track”. Each A/C unit outputs its air into the same loop. So the trick we discovered to getting the most cooling where we want it is to
Close off any vents in areas that we don’t want or need cooling
Set the thermostats so that all 3 A/Cs run when needed.
The living room is the largest room in our RV, and it’s also where we spend most of our time. It also has been the warmest room, and is difficult to keep cool in high temperatures.
The bedroom is the smallest room, and is usually too cold when the A/Cs are running. So we modified the vents in the bedroom to allow reducing or blocking the airflow to the bedroom. This involved the simple application of some white duct tape.
When the airflow is blocked from the bedroom vents, the A/C’s output gets routed to the next vents down the line which is the living room, right where we want it.
So today got up to 98°, and the RV remained quite cool. I guess we’ll see how it does when the temps go over 100°, but I’m feeling pretty optimistic.
We had been planning to hold off retiring until my birthday next year, but changes in circumstances have prompted us to go ahead and retire this year. So as of February 23, 2024 Ron is officially retired.
Ron’s teammates at HEB held a retirement celebration for him a couple days before then, and Shelley was able to attend also. Even better, Ron’s boss Pat surprised him with an HEB Swoon award. His coworkers had a lot of nice things to say about him. It was really nice, and a great send off.
Ron’s retirement celebration and award presentation
So What’s Up Now?
First Ron is going to need to wrap his head around the fact the he doesn’t have to work anymore. He’s started working on establishing healthy routines: daily walking, exercise, Spanish lessons, and practicing piano. He’s also enjoying getting around to doing some RV projects that he never seemed to have time to do before.
Travel?
It feels weird, but we have decided that we’re tired of hauling the RV all over the country. We’ve been very blessed to be able to do a lot of that over the past 13 years, but we think we’re going to do more flying. We love living in the RV, so we’re not planning on getting a house or apartment or anything like that. And we still love to travel, but Shelley’s health currently limits how long we can be away. She gets an infusion every 3 weeks, so we’ll be doing shorter trips, and probably flying.
Living in Liberty Hill, TX
At the end of 2023 we moved further out into the country to Liberty Hill. It is still a fairly small town with that great small town feel, but it’s growing quickly so we don’t know how long that will last. We had initially moved to the LHTX Rv Resort, planning on spending summers in Windsor, Ontario. But that won’t really work with the new treatment schedule. That means that we’re going to be spending summers in Texas, so we had to find some shade to park the RV under. Luckily, there was a shady spot available at the Rio Bonito RV resort nearby, so we booked it and moved in within a month. We’re planning on staying here for a while.
Since we’re not going to be towing the RV all over the country, we don’t really need the expensive monster truck anymore. So we’ve decided to sell the truck once we’ve gotten all our stuff moved to where we need it. If we want to move to another RV park we can hire someone to do that for us. We’ll still want a 2nd vehicle as a backup, so we (er, Ron) decided to get something fun like a Miata.
We’ve also found a new church home: The Grove here in Liberty Hill. Ron has joined the Men’s bible study group, and he is looking for other ways to get plugged in. We don’t know if he’ll be joining the worship team or whether God has something new and different for him. Shelley is still building up her strength after some health setbacks, but the outlook is very good and the progress so far has been amazing. Thank you everyone that has been praying for her, it’s working. It shouldn’t be long before she becomes more active also.
God is being very good to us. What a blessed life we have!
Luckily we had planned on traveling to Dallas a week early for Shelley’s Proton Therapy. Since we’d booked a nice RV spot on the lake at Hidden Cove RV Resort in Frisco, we decided to go early on Saturday 7/8 and spend a week enjoying the park before Shelley started her treatments on 7/19. Shelley followed me in her car so we would have it for driving back and forth to her treatments daily instead of driving the behemoth truck in Dallas traffic.
About an hour out of Austin she phoned me to tell me that there was smoke coming out from under the RV. I immediately pulled over, and saw that something was wrong with the way the triple axle wheels were aligned. So we let things cool down a bit, then limped along slowly until we reached a Love’s truck stop a short ways up I35. We pulled in and talked with the truck repair shop in the back, but they told us that they didn’t work on RVs so we’d need to call a mobile RV trailer repair service. So that night checked into a cheap motel next door while we looked up and called a mobile repair service and parked the RV on the street in front of it. We contacted a 24/7 mobile repair service, and the guy said he’d be out first thing in the morning.
The next morning we moved the RV from the street to the Love’s parking lot. There was a lot of truck parking in the rear, and we were able to back the rig into the space furthest back. We checked with the Love’s store and they were ok with us parking in the back so long as we weren’t block traffic.
Parked in the back of Love’s
The repair guy didn’t show up until after noon the next day. He pulled the wheels, and determined that we must have hit a curb which bent the axle hangers of the rear 2 axles. Huh? I hadn’t felt a thing. Anyways, he told us that he would get some welding tools and parts and come back out first thing the next morning and repair the hangers.
So we stayed in the RV that night which didn’t work out very well. It was very hot, so we needed to run the generator and A/C around the clock. That meant that I also had to refill the generator fuel tank regularly using a 5 gallon container which required multiple runs up to the gas pumps.
So Monday the repair guy didn’t show up until the afternoon, and spent the rest of the afternoon banging on the hangers and cutting and welding things. We checked into the motel right behind Love’s which worked out pretty well. Well the work went on through the next two days, each day the guy not showing up until afternoon some time, with no real end in sight.
Axle Hangers Being Repaired?
Finally on Wednesday I contacted another mobile RV mechanic, and he came out and took a look at the work that the first was doing. He was very polite, but tactfully stated that he didn’t think the first guy was doing things correctly. If I wanted, he knew a good welder that he could get to help him do the work, but that I would need to contact the trailer manufacturer to order some needed parts. I’m thinking to myself, why hasn’t the first guy contacted them for parts? So I called the the RV tech support, and they referred me to Lippert, trailer manufacturer. The Lippert parts folks were able to explain to me, and send me parts diagrams showing how the parts were supposed to be assembled. I was certain then that the first guy was actually making things worse. So I fired him, ordered the parts, and got Nelson’s Roadside 24/7 mechanic back on the job. They had me order the parts and have them delivered directly to them, and they would come out and do the work as soon as the parts arrived.
Waiting for the Parts
The parts arrived on Friday morning, and by early Friday afternoon we were back on the road and checked into Hidden Cove RV park in Frisco.
We had planned on spending the entire summer at Wildwood RV and Golf Resort in Windsor, Ontario to escape the Texas heat, but we had to cancel those plans when Shelley’s health situation changed. A couple lymph notes had become active, and her doctors recommended 6 weeks of proton therapy in Irving near Dallas.
One of the lymph nodes sits right in front of a bundle of nerves in her throat, so other cancer treatment options such as surgery or more common types of radiation would be risky. But proton therapy is very good at exactly this type of situation. It is able to irradiate the lymph node at a specific depth (called the Bragg peak) without causing much damage behind it .
Proton Therapy Chamber
So we spent part of July through the beginning of September in the Dallas area. Shelley was able to find a nice RV park right on a lake in nearby Frisco for the 2 months we’d need to be there. She booked us a campsite with a lot of shade.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get a good internet connection. Since I was working remotely, that was a big problem. We have a Starlink system as backup for when this happens, but there was no way to position the antenna with the necessary view of the sky. So we had to switch sites to one with no afternoon shade.
Our 2nd Hidden Cove site
Temperatures got over 110° while we were there, and the RV got very hot. We learned that RV air conditioners are designed to cool air only 16° to 20°, so my office got up to the mid 90’s in the afternoons.
As you can see in this picture, we tried shading the RV the a ShadeRV on the roof, and shade cloth covering the sunny side, but I don’t know how much good that did. We were still very hot in the afternoons.
Trying to keep cool in 110° weather
So the lesson we learned is that we absolutely must have an RV spot with afternoon shade if we are going to spend the summer in Texas.
The plan to deal with the broken slide-out appears to be working so far. We got up on Thursday morning and inspected the malfunctioning RV slide cables. Sure enough, the top forward “in” cable was frayed. So I disassembled the pulley that was bound up, freeing the cable causing the problem, and then we were able to get the slide in, and get back on the road.
The ride from Springfield, MO through Oklahoma was beautiful in the morning, turning to lots of rain in the afternoon. God was looking out for us though, and the ran stopped each time we needed to stop. There was quite a bit of construction and traffic going through Tulsa and OK City, which made for a pretty long day.
Well, we got about half way home and ran into a problem with the RV. We pulled into the Springfield Mo. KOA and started setting everything up. We started pulling the bedroom slide out and heard a terrible grinding sound. We’ve had trouble with this slide before, so knew to stop immediately, even though the slide was only half way out. Well, it appears that one of the 4 cables that pull the slide in/out broke.
Slide 1/2 Out
Broken Slide Cable
So our plan for tomorrow is to try to get the slide back in for traveling, and sleep in the recliners or the bunk bed in the office tomorrow, our last night. We can’t get into the bedroom or main bathroom with the slide in. I’ll worry about fixing the slide after we get home.
So in spite of the mechanical problems we’re still having fun. We stopped by on the way to the Uranus Fudge Factory. Sounds pretty gross, right?
