Fun in Nebraska

While some may feel that the state of Nebraska is merely a place to grow corn and a state to just buzz on through (or fly over), we have found that it has some hidden treasures among its small town comfort. On our way into the state, we spent a few days in Omaha to relax and have fun, and then moved on through Lincoln and out to the middle of the corn fields for Jason's next job. We are staying about an hour west of Lincoln, and have traveled back a few times to do some shopping and exploring.

One of the treasures that we have found is the Lincoln Children's Zoo. Thanks to our AZA membership, we were able to visit for no additional cost. Nestled in the middle of Lincoln, it is a great place to spend an afternoon learning about and interacting with our animal friends.

The kids 'rode' a turtle statue inside the reptile house.

Ian and Eliza watching the naked mole rats scurry through their tunnels.

The penguins had just finished eating and were ready to play.

This spider web was one of the play areas for the kids to get out their wiggles.

Who is cuter, the meerkat or Eliza? Instant friends.

In addition to the animal exhibits, the zoo offers pony rides, several meeting/party rooms, and the opportunity to feed local dairy cows and some camels. Surrounding the zoo is a flower garden, an indoor playground, and a sculpture park. It was definitely a great place to spend a nice summer day.

Closer to where we are staying right now, in the town of Aurora, is the Edgerton Explorit Center, which we enjoyed complimentary admission through the reciprocity program with our ASTC membership. It is named for 'Doc' Edgerton, a native to Aurora that pioneered stroboscopic photography and has been honored by National Geographic. I did not know about this before going, and as a photographer was very much interested in the displays about his work, as well as the hands on demonstrations of the techniques that he pioneered.

The center also has a large hands on activity area for kids to explore. We enjoyed a quiet Sunday afternoon with light attendance, which allowed the kids to wander from one activity to another as they pleased.

Ian and Eliza learning about sizing chicken eggs.

Lydia attempts to make a large bubble.

A large scale operation game (notice the grill tongs!).

So many things to explore!

We are having fun exploring these hidden gems that Nebraska has to offer. We can't wait to find some more.

I can change a tire in less than 30 minutes

What prompts a title like this?

A little over a week ago, we left Alabama. We were heading to Ohio to spend a week with family and friends at Memorial Holiness Camp, a camp meeting that I (Jason) have grown up attending. As we were driving north to the outskirts of Birmingham, we heard that dreaded noise: POW! I immediately began to pull over while checking my mirror. I saw the fragments of what used to be my trailer tire finding a new home along the Alabama Interstate Highway. Thankfully, it was a merge from the left ramp that I was taking, and the faulty tire was on the drivers side, so I was able to work out of the way of traffic.

I quickly assessed the damage, saw that it was only cosmetic and could wait, and then began the process of changing the tire. I have learned a few lessons from a year ago (read that adventure here), and pulled out my tire changing kit.

It includes:
1-6 ton hydraulic bottle jack
1-12 ton hydraulic bottle jack
1-18 volt impact driver
1-Air compressor with hose and fittings
1-Set of deep well impact sockets
1-High visibility vest (not pictured)
1-18 volt high torque impact driver (added after this incident)

I quickly had the trailer off the ground and the tires swapped out. I don't have a photo of this exact tire, but catastrophic failure is an accurate description. We were soon on our way, chalking this mishap up to horrible Alabama roads and the unofficial state animal, the road gator.

Having kept two tires from our first set that we changed out in St. Louis, we found the nearest Walmart to have one of them mounted to our rim. It may be hard to find a tire, but finding a place to mount a tire to a rim is easy and cheap. We were soon back on our way.

About 30 minutes later, we heard the same sound again. Sure enough, another tire has bit the dust (catastrophically), this one on the passenger side.

Not letting the situation get me down, I hopped out and speedily got this tire changed as well. I'm starting to think to myself, 'I am getting pretty quick with this tire changing business'. I wasn't done.

We once again found ourselves hunting for the closest Walmart to mount the second of our 'spare spares' to a rim. Those gentlemen had us in and out in no time. It was time to hit the road again, trying to figure out how far we may make it with the delays.

By now I am driving a little more cautiously. We make it across the state line into Tennessee, breathe a sigh of relief thinking that we are beyond the horrible Alabama roads and should have some smooth sailing through the Volunteer State. Wrong.

We use a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) on the trailer tires so that we are always up to speed with their pressure and temperature. The system will alert us when the tires are outside of a preset pressure range or exceeding a set temperature. In the case of a catastrophic failure where the tire comes apart in .0125323 seconds, it does not give much warning. With our third tire, it started beeping with a warning. I did not even give it a thought, I just started to decelerate and pull the trailer to the side of the road. I'm glad I did. In less than 15 seconds, the tire went from full and rolling to stopped and flat on the ground. A piece of steel belt had punctured the tire, causing a rapid air loss. Off went that tire and on went the last spare.

That meant it was time to find a place for the night, and hope that we could get there. We were able to make it 10 more minutes up the road to a campground about an hour south of Nashville. This was not even half way to where we had planned on getting for the day.

But we were safe and in one piece.

The next day we were able to find a place 30 minutes north of where we were camped that could get us a new set of tires, including a 'spare spare'. After some back and forth, we had a new set of tires and were on our way. Even with all of the delays and such, we still made it to our destination about 6 hours later than originally planned.

*     *     *     *     *

Overall damage was just cosmetic to the under skirting, which I was able to mostly bend back into place. Having one jack has been handy, but having two jacks seems to be invaluable. More info on the air compressor can be found here.
I used the impact driver with a socket adaptor and the impact sockets, but I would not recommend long term usage. It had enough torque for the lug nuts, but the adaptor was getting stuck inside the chuck with all of the hammering. We had already planned to get the high torque impact, this situation just upped our timeline.

Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park

So, we've been in Alabama now for about six weeks. While Jason is working at an industrial facility nearby, we've settled into a wonderful state park to call "home" while we are in the area.

Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park is the site of the original ironworks facilities and blast furnaces that supported the Confederate Army during the US Civil War. The original furnaces are still in place today, as well as a number of other historical landmarks and several other historical buildings that have been moved to the park for preservation and to open them up for the public.

We have loved this beautiful hidden gem, which is as charming as Central Alabama itself is. After looking at a few of our photographs of the park, I'm sure that you'll agree.

One of the original furnaces within the park.

Tannehill State Park sits within three counties. Jason found the marker while hiking one day.

Original slave cemetery tucked away in the woods.

A miniature train takes visitors from the campground area to the Pioneer Farm area.

The Country Store and campground offices, circa 1905.

Craft cabins are open on the weekends to watch local artisans create paintings, pottery, quilts, wood carving, musical instruments and more!

One of the many streams that flow through the park, including a crystal clear bubbling brook swimming hole!

Country church, circa 1905. Sunday services are still held here weekly.

Pre-Civil War era cemetery adjacent to the church. The cemetery has been restored, but the original grave markers are still where they lay.

Working grist mill that still grinds corn. You can bring your own to grind for $20/bushel, or purchase for $3/lb. in the Country Store.

Fancy meeting this guy on the hiking trail...
Yes. He is a rattler.

Air Compressor

I have been wanting to upgrade to an air compressor that is capable of easily airing up our tires as well as being portable. After doing some research, I found one that also runs off of 12 volts DC, so as long as I have a running vehicle, I have a working air compressor. I bought a Q Industries MV 50 compressor.
 
It is a popular compressor amongst four wheeling enthusiasts because of its capability to air up a tire in just a few minutes. The compressor is meant to be used directly next to the tire. Once you turn it on, it is pushing air at full boar with no relief unless you are connected to a tire. The little hose that came with it wasn't going to cut it for my needs, since I want to be able to reach any tire with out having to move the vehicle. So I put together a T with a quick connect to hook to the compressor, a pressure relief valve, and another quick connect for my hose. It works out perfectly setting the relief at 80 psi, since the most pressure that I will need is about 70 psi. It gives me a quick and convenient way to air up bike tires and toys as well.

I added a tire adaptor with pressure gauge to make things easy on that end, and also some blower nozzles for cleaning up. So far, it has proven to be a mighty little compressor in filling up tires. It comes with a storage bag, which holds everything perfectly.

Sarasota Children's Garden

We recently took advantage of a local Living Social deal and visited the Sarasota Children's Gardens. It was one of those places that looked interesting, and for under $20 for our whole family to visit for the day (with our Living Social voucher), it was worth checking out.

And I'm so glad that we did! The gardens are full of magical lands that delighted our children's imaginations and made us adults act like kids again for the afternoon.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road...

Before entering the gardens, the kids had an opportunity to visit the costume room and choose costumes to wear during their visit. Ian chose a cowboy vest, while the girls chose a variety of ball gowns and princess dresses.

The entrance to the magical gardens.

Ian exploring the birdbath in the Fairy Garden area. The details in each section are amazing!

The little Simpsonites climbing Fruity Oops Mountain. You can see part of Snuffy in the foreground.
Snuffy is  a way-cool dragon!

Little pig, little pig, let me in...

Watering the flowers in the Butterfly Garden.

Eliza is taking her turn swinging from the rope and dropping into the hay bales in Hobbitville.

The sidewalk through The Land Of Od.
You can see the "castle" that Eliza claimed for her kingdom at the end of this road.

Just one of the fellas that we met in the Monster Garden

All told, we spent about 2-3 hours exploring the gardens, which was just about the right amount of time for our crew. If you visit Sarasota, this is definitely a hidden gem worth exploring. It's a beautiful, magical place where kids can freely explore and imaginations can run wild!

Standing on one leg

Over the past few months (6 or so), we have had some on again/off again issues with our front landing jacks. Some sticking, some not wanting to move, and most recently, total failure. Thankfully, not catastrophic, but that is mostly because the fifth wheel was still hooked up to the truck. With each incident, we have tried different remedies, trying to systematically work through the whole system to isolate the issue. There may have been several, but I am now confident that they will work normally from now on, since I have taken off and tested the motor, inspected and greased the reduction gear box, installed a new wireless controller and overloads, and now a brand new leg.

As I mentioned, the most recent failure was several threads inside the opposite door jack just shearing off, causing the leg to not support any weight. It happened when I was getting ready to unhook from the truck and had just started to take the weight off of the truck, so it just returned the load to the truck.

For anyone wondering what it takes to replace one of these legs, it is really, really easy. It took me 20 minutes to pull off the bum leg and about 45 to put the new one on, but I did take some extra time to clean some items up while I had the system disassembled and to document the process. The photos are of a Keystone Mountaineer 345DBQ, and the parts are from Lippert. Parts and shipping for the leg were about $320.

The old leg in back and new in the front. I had to take the foot and locking pin off of the old leg and put it on the new one. A little WD-40 to clean them up and they almost look new.

The two brackets that the leg mounts into.

The leg bolted into the brackets.

The bracket where it is welded to the frame. Take note of the protrusions on the leg and how they sit on the bracket. This is how the load is primarily transferred from the frame to the leg. The bolts are there to hold these in place. Be sure that both protrusions are properly seated before placing weight onto the leg.

The view looking up.

Inside the front compartment, this rod is how the motor attaches to the leg and actuates it. For our rig, one motor controls both legs.

Attach the motor. I left the other leg off of the motor and adjusted the new one to match the existing leg first...

...then I hooked up the tie rod so that they would operate in sync. I set the RV onto some temporary stands so that I could then let the legs take the weight.

And viola! We have a new leg installed. I marked the factory 'all the way in' point with a sharpie so that I knew how far I could run it in with out damage.

Because of the legs mounting to the outside of the frame, it was easy to slide it in and out, and I didn't have to worry about being over a pit to have to slide it straight down. I know that other rigs don't have this much access and clearance and may require extra steps/effort to accomplish this process. I hope that this is informative and a useful aide for anyone wanting to work on their legs.

Fun in the Sun at Siesta Key Beach

It is amazing at how different the beaches can be within a few miles of each other on Florida's Gulf Coast. We have visited several beaches during our stay, having played at rocky sand beaches, shell and coral sand beaches, more coarse play sand-like beaches, and today we visited a white sand beach. If you know Stephanie, it is not hard to figure out that she prefers the white sand beaches, so it was a little easier to convince her to go to the beach today, and to stay and play for awhile. I have been itching to get to Siesta Key Beach since we arrived on the Gulf Coast. My parents brought me to this beach as a child, and I have such great memories of it. Needless to say, my memory was correct, and now I can only hope that my children remember this amazingly beautiful and fun beach as well.

We arrived in the late morning so that we would be able to get a parking spot and avoid being out in the heat of the day. The sand was soft and smooth and the tide was just starting to come in. The kids and I had fun playing in the surf, building a small lake to splash in, with a tide wall to protect it. With the tide coming in, it was a losing battle, but it kept us entertained for awhile. The shore gradually slopes into the water, so the three older kids and I had some fun jumping into some knee high waves (knee high for them).

Soon enough lunch time approached and we headed out, covered in sand and fun.