RBHarter
West Central AR
It was a dark and stormy night ........ok it wasn't but it makes an entrance .
"Bill we found a beautiful place about 95 miles from where Mammie was born we're moving there . " Ummmm ok , when you get moved what do want to do with the house ? "See you in about a week".
So that's basically what happened in January 13' .
In 16' Dad nearly bled out to internally , then the diabetes , now liver issues .... Mom fell off a ladder on several occasions breaking an ankle twice and several wrist sprain .
Fast forward .
10/17-11/17
We made arrangements for the 13 ac parcel bought a metal building and paid out for a pad to cut in. Water , power , and waste were in place .
3/18
Building hit the ground in March , weather , health , 1600 miles etc .....
6/4
Day 1
Got up ready to go ………
Loading the fridge and freezer should have been about 35 min . 2 hours later we got the doors closed …….
First stop . Lunch 2 hours in with a pee stop and drinks .
The new to us 5/30 F350 UHaul retiree rattle canned red ,dubbed later in the trip “Tomater”, flagged an engine light .
That “charming lady” behind the counter at the BK wanted to see bodies for the coupons , had to do each meal as a separate purchase and made Ms recycle the line for the last half of the order .
Moving on at the second stop I needed a bag of ice and topped off the 3 trucks . 230 miles .
While I was waiting on the ice I made a remark about the heat , lack of A/C , and the dog not digging it either so the guy goes over and says “want a kids scoop for the dog on me ?” . Now understand it was from the soft serve dump bucket but still it was an awesome move with the poor start .
We reached mile 325 just in time to discover that Tomater (like tomato not the cute Disney character) has a fuel feed issue …..it appears that it has 23.3 useable gallons in the 40 gallon tank …….. 3 hrs later in the fire lane in front of the Dodge dealer in Henderson NV before we managed to get it going again ….. Great lot guy . He checked on us several times brought us 5 gallons of fuel (on the dealership) even lent a hand . About 11:30 we got a room .
Day 2
Up bright and early …….I hate traveling with people that aren’t fixed on the miles and getting moving …… 4 hr after I was ready to goooooo already ……
Oh for Pete’s sake it’s been 45 minutes ….. never mind coffee dump whatever . Oh look a sidewall split on the Big Red 85 F250 with the 24′ flate bed …… Perfect , something I’m actually prepared for. So we change the right rear and while we’re there I noticed that the other side is flaking too ……change it don’t risk it . Well guess what we break the Kingman city limits just in time to have a major gator back blow out . 4 layers of load range E tread and steel belts jammed between the backing plate and springs over the brake line and jammed the E brake cable too .
Seriously 7 hours to get 2 tires changed and get the wreckage out . After 4 hr I gave it over to a professional . We made 417 miles from the start point in 2 days . Ms said on the pull into Boulder City and into Kingman that she got an engine light and it got over the “l” on the Normal temperature . The over flow hose didn’t go all the way to the bottom of the over flow tank so the radiator was about 3 quarts low . No biggie it’s an 8 core radiator 5 gallon system . The camper trailer got side swiped , wasted 3 windows and the door . The cat will never be right again .
Day 3
Kingman to Flagstaff average speed 25 mph 5 mpg . Big Red was power tuned for under 1200 feet , it’s a 6.8 no turbo dumb as a rock , 4 wire diesel . It didn’t pull well at 7335′ over the southern Rockies ….. it did a little better but trailed continuous black smoke . Ordinarily I’d be worried about an engine making oil but I let it slide this time . We made Holbrook Az and we were on track for Gallop but it wasn’t to be . In Holbrook Ms says ” there’s a check engine light and the battery light and the volts are down ” . Great . So we whip it in to the Holbrook O’Riley’s and the guy comes out and throws the load/alt tester and it show a regulator fault . So I go in get a regulator slap it in and no change …… So I yank the alternator out of Tomater and there’s ceramic chunks falling out and the rear bearing cup is an the injection pump …… Ok found the regulator fault .
So we search out an alternator …… How are there 9 different units for an F350 ? The correct alternator has it’s plug at the 12:00 and is $163 , it’s after 5 it’ll be Monday , it’s Friday night …… Good news the the F250 with the plug at 3:00 is $56 out the door . Identical except for the plug position and $110 cheaper ….. The harness reached easily . But we had to change the pulley , the parts guys must have been really bored . Got another room …..
Day 4
Tomater puked 2 qts of ATF ….. Cracked fitting .
Finally a start at a decent time ! Down hill all the way to Albuquerque NM , good time , good mpg , very little black smoke . The circus train is hauling donkey like a rocket sled on rails , you know compared to the last 3 days anyway . Made it all the way to Oklahoma . Hinton Oklahoma where Big Red developed a drive line vibration …..very unsettling with 8,000# of trailer on board .
It’s 4:30 Saturday afternoon . Wanna guess how many parts houses are available ? There’s a NAPA in Hinton that closed at 12:30 . We’re looking at 60+ round trip for parts , but the lady at the truck stop swore the was one open till 6:00 . Ms goes down to the Town Square Market and asked a guy on his way in about the other parts house ……. “Nope just the NAPA . My cousin owns it though let me give him a call .” Ordinarily I’d be all what the redneck back woods heck did I get myself into !?! 45 minutes later we had parts in hand and a place in the shade to work . The drag strip behind the store and return lane out front were a bit of a distraction ……. May as well have been long legged red heads for a speed junkie …….
By now you’re wondering why we weren’t running in the dark . Well it’s because the side swipe for whatever reason took out all of the camper lights ……
9:45 in OKC we found a room and in process we saved a guy that had dropped a 30ft trailer off a culvert on one side . Go go farm jacks .
Day 5
Tomater needed another qt of ATF .
Remington , the dog that scored ice cream puked in the hall . The late night desk clerk was confused by someone cleaning up after their dog I guess ….. Good start in spite of it all .
Visited Ms’s Aunt in Wilberton Ok then on to Mena .
I don’t know what happened in that last 100 miles but it must have been bad because I was the only one happy to be to the end of the road trip . Well maybe Remmy too . So much anger …. Oh wait 5 days in trucks , sweltering for a 3 day trip ….
Tuesday we got a small house in town instead of setting up camp on the house site . Mother in law is a lunitic . Step son is idk lazy mostly .
We spent about $5k too much in the last weeks of NV and 2k we shouldn’t have had to here , but we made it in one piece with all 3 trucks and 2 months of groceries . We lost the fish in the fridge freezer and about 10# of other meat . We met a bunch of really great people and even in the midst of our own mess gave some back .
We left a carbon footprint on Arizona that looks like Yeti and his cousin Sasquatch were doing the Lindy/swing and the Bristol stomp all the way across I40 .
Moving along to the property .
6/18ish , I don't know June is just a blurr punctuated with birthday calls from my girls , sweat running in my eyes and on down into my socks , chiggers taking advantage of a hole in my shirt , and an unsprayed waist line ...... exactly once .
The guys that were paid to make the 65² pad I guess flunked tape measure skool as they came up a little short on one side , about 15' . No big deal I'll just turn the house ........ Ok um not so much . Yeah it fit turned 90° but the cut bank isn't straight and that still only gets me about 8' on the bank side .
So another $700 to break up dirt with a dozer . We're moving it about 3 miles from Mom&Dad's to mine in 1.5 ton GI Duece and 1/2 trailers so we're getting about 2-2.5 yd a trip . I think there's enough fill down the berm side now for the 50 ft length of the 40×50 .
"The septic needs to be moved " ...... fortunately it's just the leach field . See the state guy came out and says " you have to have this much , this deep , and this much per run or part of , this far from the tank ."
Well that put the leach field in the bottom of a seasonal creek . Well it's on a shoulder but twice a year it would run over the leach field and part of it is exposed over the 5 yr it's been there so , bad form . Moreover he comes back out and " how much land is here" , 13 ac ," why am I here ? its over 10 ac do what you want ....." So we're digging a field up on top . 2 runs 50 and 65 ft , 10 feet off the tank , will do in place of the 105 ft with the 80+ foot run from the tank 20 ft down hill ..... There's a tank corner exposed so I need a little more fill there too , but I think we have that ......covered . That will make out the front drive parking also .
From the front door....future front door .
The range cut
Out the future back door
If you feel sorry for me donations to the Hart transplant fund may be made but I’d be happy with a job hook up .
"Bill we found a beautiful place about 95 miles from where Mammie was born we're moving there . " Ummmm ok , when you get moved what do want to do with the house ? "See you in about a week".
So that's basically what happened in January 13' .
In 16' Dad nearly bled out to internally , then the diabetes , now liver issues .... Mom fell off a ladder on several occasions breaking an ankle twice and several wrist sprain .
Fast forward .
10/17-11/17
We made arrangements for the 13 ac parcel bought a metal building and paid out for a pad to cut in. Water , power , and waste were in place .
3/18
Building hit the ground in March , weather , health , 1600 miles etc .....
6/4
Day 1
Got up ready to go ………
Loading the fridge and freezer should have been about 35 min . 2 hours later we got the doors closed …….
First stop . Lunch 2 hours in with a pee stop and drinks .
The new to us 5/30 F350 UHaul retiree rattle canned red ,dubbed later in the trip “Tomater”, flagged an engine light .
That “charming lady” behind the counter at the BK wanted to see bodies for the coupons , had to do each meal as a separate purchase and made Ms recycle the line for the last half of the order .
Moving on at the second stop I needed a bag of ice and topped off the 3 trucks . 230 miles .
While I was waiting on the ice I made a remark about the heat , lack of A/C , and the dog not digging it either so the guy goes over and says “want a kids scoop for the dog on me ?” . Now understand it was from the soft serve dump bucket but still it was an awesome move with the poor start .
We reached mile 325 just in time to discover that Tomater (like tomato not the cute Disney character) has a fuel feed issue …..it appears that it has 23.3 useable gallons in the 40 gallon tank …….. 3 hrs later in the fire lane in front of the Dodge dealer in Henderson NV before we managed to get it going again ….. Great lot guy . He checked on us several times brought us 5 gallons of fuel (on the dealership) even lent a hand . About 11:30 we got a room .
Day 2
Up bright and early …….I hate traveling with people that aren’t fixed on the miles and getting moving …… 4 hr after I was ready to goooooo already ……
Oh for Pete’s sake it’s been 45 minutes ….. never mind coffee dump whatever . Oh look a sidewall split on the Big Red 85 F250 with the 24′ flate bed …… Perfect , something I’m actually prepared for. So we change the right rear and while we’re there I noticed that the other side is flaking too ……change it don’t risk it . Well guess what we break the Kingman city limits just in time to have a major gator back blow out . 4 layers of load range E tread and steel belts jammed between the backing plate and springs over the brake line and jammed the E brake cable too .
Seriously 7 hours to get 2 tires changed and get the wreckage out . After 4 hr I gave it over to a professional . We made 417 miles from the start point in 2 days . Ms said on the pull into Boulder City and into Kingman that she got an engine light and it got over the “l” on the Normal temperature . The over flow hose didn’t go all the way to the bottom of the over flow tank so the radiator was about 3 quarts low . No biggie it’s an 8 core radiator 5 gallon system . The camper trailer got side swiped , wasted 3 windows and the door . The cat will never be right again .
Day 3
Kingman to Flagstaff average speed 25 mph 5 mpg . Big Red was power tuned for under 1200 feet , it’s a 6.8 no turbo dumb as a rock , 4 wire diesel . It didn’t pull well at 7335′ over the southern Rockies ….. it did a little better but trailed continuous black smoke . Ordinarily I’d be worried about an engine making oil but I let it slide this time . We made Holbrook Az and we were on track for Gallop but it wasn’t to be . In Holbrook Ms says ” there’s a check engine light and the battery light and the volts are down ” . Great . So we whip it in to the Holbrook O’Riley’s and the guy comes out and throws the load/alt tester and it show a regulator fault . So I go in get a regulator slap it in and no change …… So I yank the alternator out of Tomater and there’s ceramic chunks falling out and the rear bearing cup is an the injection pump …… Ok found the regulator fault .
So we search out an alternator …… How are there 9 different units for an F350 ? The correct alternator has it’s plug at the 12:00 and is $163 , it’s after 5 it’ll be Monday , it’s Friday night …… Good news the the F250 with the plug at 3:00 is $56 out the door . Identical except for the plug position and $110 cheaper ….. The harness reached easily . But we had to change the pulley , the parts guys must have been really bored . Got another room …..
Day 4
Tomater puked 2 qts of ATF ….. Cracked fitting .
Finally a start at a decent time ! Down hill all the way to Albuquerque NM , good time , good mpg , very little black smoke . The circus train is hauling donkey like a rocket sled on rails , you know compared to the last 3 days anyway . Made it all the way to Oklahoma . Hinton Oklahoma where Big Red developed a drive line vibration …..very unsettling with 8,000# of trailer on board .
It’s 4:30 Saturday afternoon . Wanna guess how many parts houses are available ? There’s a NAPA in Hinton that closed at 12:30 . We’re looking at 60+ round trip for parts , but the lady at the truck stop swore the was one open till 6:00 . Ms goes down to the Town Square Market and asked a guy on his way in about the other parts house ……. “Nope just the NAPA . My cousin owns it though let me give him a call .” Ordinarily I’d be all what the redneck back woods heck did I get myself into !?! 45 minutes later we had parts in hand and a place in the shade to work . The drag strip behind the store and return lane out front were a bit of a distraction ……. May as well have been long legged red heads for a speed junkie …….
By now you’re wondering why we weren’t running in the dark . Well it’s because the side swipe for whatever reason took out all of the camper lights ……
9:45 in OKC we found a room and in process we saved a guy that had dropped a 30ft trailer off a culvert on one side . Go go farm jacks .
Day 5
Tomater needed another qt of ATF .
Remington , the dog that scored ice cream puked in the hall . The late night desk clerk was confused by someone cleaning up after their dog I guess ….. Good start in spite of it all .
Visited Ms’s Aunt in Wilberton Ok then on to Mena .
I don’t know what happened in that last 100 miles but it must have been bad because I was the only one happy to be to the end of the road trip . Well maybe Remmy too . So much anger …. Oh wait 5 days in trucks , sweltering for a 3 day trip ….
Tuesday we got a small house in town instead of setting up camp on the house site . Mother in law is a lunitic . Step son is idk lazy mostly .
We spent about $5k too much in the last weeks of NV and 2k we shouldn’t have had to here , but we made it in one piece with all 3 trucks and 2 months of groceries . We lost the fish in the fridge freezer and about 10# of other meat . We met a bunch of really great people and even in the midst of our own mess gave some back .
We left a carbon footprint on Arizona that looks like Yeti and his cousin Sasquatch were doing the Lindy/swing and the Bristol stomp all the way across I40 .
Moving along to the property .
6/18ish , I don't know June is just a blurr punctuated with birthday calls from my girls , sweat running in my eyes and on down into my socks , chiggers taking advantage of a hole in my shirt , and an unsprayed waist line ...... exactly once .
The guys that were paid to make the 65² pad I guess flunked tape measure skool as they came up a little short on one side , about 15' . No big deal I'll just turn the house ........ Ok um not so much . Yeah it fit turned 90° but the cut bank isn't straight and that still only gets me about 8' on the bank side .
So another $700 to break up dirt with a dozer . We're moving it about 3 miles from Mom&Dad's to mine in 1.5 ton GI Duece and 1/2 trailers so we're getting about 2-2.5 yd a trip . I think there's enough fill down the berm side now for the 50 ft length of the 40×50 .
"The septic needs to be moved " ...... fortunately it's just the leach field . See the state guy came out and says " you have to have this much , this deep , and this much per run or part of , this far from the tank ."
Well that put the leach field in the bottom of a seasonal creek . Well it's on a shoulder but twice a year it would run over the leach field and part of it is exposed over the 5 yr it's been there so , bad form . Moreover he comes back out and " how much land is here" , 13 ac ," why am I here ? its over 10 ac do what you want ....." So we're digging a field up on top . 2 runs 50 and 65 ft , 10 feet off the tank , will do in place of the 105 ft with the 80+ foot run from the tank 20 ft down hill ..... There's a tank corner exposed so I need a little more fill there too , but I think we have that ......covered . That will make out the front drive parking also .
From the front door....future front door .
The range cut
Out the future back door
If you feel sorry for me donations to the Hart transplant fund may be made but I’d be happy with a job hook up .
