Garage Doors at our NOMADS House March 31, 2010

We got back in the saddle at our NOMADS house in Galveston.  I caught a ride with Jerry and Kit while Pam went back to the doctor for a followup.  She also got the tire repaired and did some other things before she joined us there too.

Pam found out they could not balance the tires because the tread on a front one is wearing too thin.  It is time for new tires.  ??  Really…after 16,000 miles?  We have to call our Honda dealer and check out that one.  I thought these were supposed to be good for 50,000 miles (or 30,000 at least…).

Kelly returned to Dallas with Ed(her dog).  The RV campground where we are staying at Island Community Church is about half empty.  More people left last weekend and we only have 10 people left on the project.  It closes down this week and resumes again in the fall.

My main task for the day was to get started on the garage doors.  They need to be replaced.

It was built with 1/4 inch plywood but we are replacing it with 3/4 inch.

The old doors are a bit twisted so, we are putting up cross braces inside the doors on these ones.

If the hinges hold on these HEAVY doors, they should last a while.

Inside, Jerry was fixing the bathtub fixtures and replacing an electrical outlet box while Kit and Fran were finishing off the trim around the laundry and closet doors.

Kit also finished painting the back door.  Quitting time came very quickly and we headed back to the campground after 4:00 PM.

In the evening I got caught up on emails and coordinated the final touches over the phone with our tax person at H and R Block.  That online approval and submission is pretty nifty.  We had a bit of a complicated return this year so it was great to have Mike get it done for us.  Good news ~ we get about $1700 back this year!

We are getting in the pack up and move mode.  Tonight after ‘work’ I will take off the tire covers and check the tire pressure, do some packing rearrange some things in the basement.

We will leave here on Friday morning for Red Bay AL to get some work done at the Tiffin factory.

Hope your week is going well and thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

Tully’s and a Flat Tire March 30, 2010

After we saw Adam and Meghan, we found a Bed and Breakfast in Petrolia (Canada).  It was about the same price as a Super 8 Motel in Sarnia, 10 miles away.  Only a whole lot better!   Tully’s was GREAT.

The old Victoria House was built in 1896 and served as the rectory for the Anglican Church (down the street).  It became available in 1988 when Gord and Betty Tully bought it.   It opened for business in 1992.  I has been completely restored and is a gem!

We arrived late in the afternoon and were greated by the Tully’s.  Betty and Gord Tully love people and it was evident from the first moment we met them.

We got the third floor of the mansion.  Pam and I had a suite and Kelly had her own room.

We shared a small but very adequate toilet and shower.

The rooms and hallways are not real large but the house has tremendous personality and it has been restored with a lot of antique furniture, furnishings and other details.

Betty cooked a fantastic breakfast, complete with fresh fruit, homemade coffee cake,

maple bacon and scrambled eggs.

The other rooms in the house also had Victorian furniture (along with a Bose music system and speakers and a video/TV in the other room.)

We left the Tully’s about 9:30 AM and went over to see Adam and Meghan.  We also spent time talking with Marg (her mom) before we had lunch.

In no time it was time to say goodbye and we headed back across the bridge to Port Huron.

The weather was nice and the sky was blue as we approached the checkpoint at the bridge into Port Huron.  From their it was a little over 60 miles to Detroit and another 15 miles to the airport.

We flew from Detroit, made a connecting flight to Houston and caught the shuttle bus out to where our car was parked.  We loaded the bags and started out of the parking lot.  Uh oh…

I had a flat tire. I pulled it over under the bright lights.  And our ace mechanic/tire changer jumped into action.

Kelly was determined to show us her prowess.  In 15 minutes we were done and on our way.  What a daughter!

We picked up Ed (her dog) at cousin Mark’s and drove to Galveston to the Roadrunner.  We got into bed shortly after 12:00 AM.

Please continue to pray for Meghan and Adam and her family and ours.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles.  We are very glad you stopped by…

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

Big Day in Canada March 29, 2010

We were at Rod and Lisa’s house again and didn’t have to leave until about 10:00 AM.  Adam arrived about 9:45 AM and we loaded the bags and drove to Port Huron.  We filled up with gas and crossed the border into Canada about 10:15.  We found a Starbucks in Sarnia and had a cup of coffee and went over to Meghan’s parents house in Petrolia about 11:30.

We met her brother and fiance, an uncle and aunt and had a very nice lunch.  They put on a very nice spread.  It was the first time Kelly got to meet everyone and our first time to meet her brother, his fiance and uncle.  They are all wonderful people and we cherished our time with them.

Later we watched the NCAA tournament and Duke pull away from Kelly’s alma mater – Baylor.  We decided to stay in Petrolia and then went across town to Tully’s Bed and Breakfast.  It is a wonderful old house that has been fully restored.

We will be going back over to see Meghan and Adam and her mom for a while before we get back and fly out of Detroit Airport later this afternoon to Houston.  From there we will drive on to Galveston where we have our RV.  We will be finishing up the week with NOMADS before departing on Friday.

Thank you for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles today ~ and thanks to all of you that have been praying for Meghan and Adam and her parents and family.   They have been through a lot and there are tough days ahead…

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

Greektown to Ferndale (Detroit area) March 28, 2010

Yesterday was a beautiful day in the Detroit area.  Rod and Lisa are very gracious hosts and we appreciate their friendship and hospitality.

They have a beautiful home and plenty of space out back.

Rod is active in the men’s group at Bethany Baptist Church and I was able to join him for their regular Saturday morning meeting.  We had a good group and discussed the Ch 4 of the book:  Chasing Daylight – Seize the Power of Every Moment.

It was a great time of fellowship and instruction as we talked about how we can be a better influence on those around us every day.  The bagels, Tim Horton muffins and coffee were good too 🙂

We got back home for a great breakfast that Lisa made, then went by the Harley Davidson store and on into Detroit.  Rod is a motorcycle rider and needed to get a new tire ordered for his Buell motorcycle.

They had quite a crowd at their spring Open House.  Unfortunately, they did not have the tire he needed so he will have to do something else.

Then it was on to downtown Detroit.

We took a windshield tour first and then parked near Greektown.  I had no idea there was a large Greek population in Detroit.  I was impressed with how clean the city seemed.

We also took a ride on the city Detroit People Mover.  It was a bargain at $.50 and allowed us to see the city from a different perspective.  

By then we were pretty hungry and ended up at Piper’s restaurant for lunch.  I had a bowl of cheddar soup and a black russian sandwich.

Our next task was to find a rental car so we could drive across to Canada on Sunday for the wedding.  We will find a place there to stay the night and then can drive ourselves back to the airport on Monday for a return trip to Houston.

On that way over I had to stop and take a picture of a nomads building—

According to a web site, Nomads, Inc. is Detroit’s around-the-world, non-profit air travel club. (not related to the NOMADS, UMC volunteer organization for RVers.

Getting a rental car was a bit of a challenge…  I thought there would be a series rental car agencies near the baggage claim area.  Following the signs, I went upstairs from there, across a walkway over to the large airport parking garage.  There were shuttles to the rental car parking lots, but no desk or row of agents like I expected.

Instead, I found a phone where I could call the national car rental company of my choice.  I did so and got kicked into a long series of automated responses to get a rental car.  After too many attempts and a bit of frustration, I decided to retrace my steps upstairs, across the walkway, down to the baggage area and outside where everyone was waiting.

We ended up driving to one of the rental car company’s off site parking areas and walking from the curb back to the shuttle drop off point and renting a Ford Focus from the lady at the counter.  Whew!!  I guess they are reducing their manpower and presence in airport terminals to save money?  But no matter– we got a car and returned to Rod and Lisa’s for the rest of the afternoon.

Adam got off work and we drove over to Ferndale to see the house where he lives.  Looks like a nice neighborhood and a good place to live.

A couple blocks over, we found Anita’s Kitchen and had a great dinner of Lebanese food.

Rod and Lisa returned home and Adam drove us around for a ‘Detroit by Night’ windshield tour.  I was a beautiful evening.  There must have been something going on at Tiger Stadium.  We heard Taylor Swift is going to be in town but not sure that was it.

Detroit is an interesting city, glad we got to see it.

Then Adam drove us back to Rod and Lisa’s.  We watched an episode of Sherlock Holmes and some of the Canadian comedy ‘Green and Red’.  By then it was well past our bedtime so we turned in.  Big day tomorrow!

Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

With Friends in Detroit March 27, 2010

First, a big hello and Welcome to a new Follower:

Lisa

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

We packed for the airport but paused for a moment and said goodbye to fellow NOMADS Mary (on the right)

and Gary (on the right again.)

It was good to meet Mary and Gary and wish them well on their travels.  Hopefully we will meet up with them again.

Saying goodbye on Friday is a regular event.  We usually gather with folks whose time is up and are ready to mover on from the NOMADS project.  Joe and France (in the center of the first picture to the right of Mary) are the leaders who have been here in Galveston since the first of February.  We will wrap up this winter/spring version of the Galveston NOMADS Disaster Relief Revolving Team Project the end of next week.

Then Pam, Kelly and I headed out to Houston Hobby International Airport.  We had a non-routine stop at Starbuck’s where Kelly had an Tall Iced Black Cherry Latte.  Pam and I had coffee.  In no time we were at the airport and parked at a facility for long term parking since we will be gone for four days.

It has been a while since we’ve flown anywhere. The last time was in May when we flew to South Dakota to become residents right before we became RV full-timers.

Airports seemed to have changed a little.  The security lines were short and efficient and a little more friendly.  I noticed the furniture had changed in a few places to accommodate laptops, electrical devices and small children.

We flew directly to Chicago Midway Airport for a changeover.  I hadn’t been through there in a while and it was a nice modern airport.  Many have McDonalds (which would make Kit and Jerry happy).

Detroit was another nice airport and we had an uneventful day.  We are staying with our friends Rod and Lisa and Rod was able to pick us up at the airport since he works nearby.

On the way to Rod and Lisa’s we picked up dinner.

We tried a new variety:  vegetarian pizza with Pepperoni.  It was very good!

Lisa made some of her famous chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

We chatted some before we went upstairs to their loft and relaxed.  Their loft is a second big ‘family room’ with a large comfortable sofa and TV and where they have their desktop.

We watched the NCAA tournament with Tennessee and Baylor coming up winners.  We talked more and found some mutual friends on Facebook whom we hadn’t seen in years.

Kelly got a big of payback by snapping my photo… She seems to tire of my many photos…  🙂

…the plight of a blogger  🙂

It was a great day and we are enjoying time with our good friends.  Adam is working and a ways away from us but we will see him after work tomorrow.  Then pick us up for the wedding ceremony in Canada on Sunday.

Hope you are having a great week.  And thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

From Hanging Doors to a Talent Show March 26, 2010

It was my turn to lead devotions and I took focused on a portion of scripture out of Nehemiah.  One of the themes of that book is how Nehemiah planned, prepared and executing the rebuilding of the walls in Jerusalem.  The point of the devotion was to see how and how much Nehemiah prayed to Almighty God which has direct application to our NOMADS house rebuilding projects.

We had a rain storm Wednesday night that left the campground a little soggy.

But it cleared up and it was another beautiful day

I have mixed emotions about Thursdays.  With our NOMADS team, it is the last day of the work week.  It is also the time we say goodbye to some couples.  Russ and Nancy are leaving Friday but not before Joe, our project lead, presented Russ with a picture of his plumbing.

The plumbing requirements on some houses here in Galveston have been interesting.  Russ had one of those that probably unlike any other he will have to deal with anytime soon.

We had the same team back at Johnnie’s House.

Joe helped us hang our first door to the laundry room.

It opens and closes beautifully.  I love learning how to do new things like this.

Jerry and Kit and I were then able to hang a closet door in the back bedroom.

Now all we have to do is put up trim and replace the baseboard and those two projects will be done.

Pam finished installing the drywall in the front aquarium closet.

That was a beast–hard to get to and a few non-standard cuts to fit into the space.

Pat cleaned out old drywall and prepared a space in the kitchen under the counter where the dishwasher was.

Outside, Norm was building a screen for the non-standard window.

He even built a cross piece for support.  Those rivet guns come in handy.

After we finished for the day, we got cleaned up and went over to Moody Memorial United Methodist Church.  They were have their first annual fund raiser for their after-school program.  They had a silent auction,a loaded bake potato dinner and a talent show to raise money.

We had the whole NOMADS group there at three tables.

Our own fellow NOMADS Carol Stoner did a comedy routine with a take off on Minnie Pearl.

It was all well done and successful event.

Kelly went to Houston to leave her dog Ed with cousin Mark and had an interview.  She thought it went well so we will see how it goes in a couple of weeks.  A move from Dallas to Houston could be in the works.

She is spending the night with us in Galveston, then the three of us will drive back to Houston and hop on a plane to fly to Detroit.  Adam and Meghan are getting married on Sunday in nearby Petrolia, Canada, right across the border.  We are excited for them!

Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles!  And for signing up to ‘Follow’…we are very close to our goal of 100 but need a few more to get there…

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

Slow Start but Big Finish March 25, 2010

First, welcome to our newest and 91st Followers:

Cindy and Walker

Thanks for joining the crowd on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  And you might want to check out their blog.  Click here

We had regular devotions and singing and prayer with our NOMADS group this morning, then headed out to our project houses.  Only our house was at a ‘stop work’ of sorts.  We are waiting on the house to get inspected while the other NOMADS house had more than enough workers.

So we decided to run by McDonalds for some coffee.

While we were there, we got a call from Joe to meet him at the other NOMADS house.

We drove over to the house and took a look at the work they were doing.  They are making great progress and hopefully will have it completed by the end of next week.

Also we met another team there that was painting the outside of the house and working downstairs. They are on Spring Break from Boulder Colorado and their group’s name is:  BUMMP – Boulder United Methodist Mission Partners.  It is a partnership of United Methodist Churches in the Boulder area that was formed in 1976.  They have a long history of traveling to areas of the world where they can help.

The Galveston Area draws volunteers from all over the country.

Our team drove over to our ‘new’ project house.  We have a few doors to install, some electrical work, a window to repair and a few other things.

It was good to get engaged and put in some good work again.  Sometimes the most tiring days are the slow ones where you don’t fell like you are making a good contribution.  So we were glad to get going again and we had a good work day.

After work we joined Carol and Howard who invited folks to Leon’s for dinner.  It is a local ‘mom and pop’ type of place.

Most had other plans but Pam and I joined them and had brisket.  It was pretty good.

Later we made some phone calls and talked with Adam and Kelly and with friends in Detroit.

Meghan Update:  She had an unscheduled visit to ER yesterday and to the doctor to get some relief on a pain that turned out to be a gall bladder infection.  Thanks for continuing to pray for her and her family.  Your vigilance is welcome.  Check her blog for the latest.  And signup ‘For the Love of Meghan’ on Facebook.

Thanks for your many comments and all you readers for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles today!

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

Mostly NOMADS Trash Day March 24, 2010

Yesterday was another slow day for us on the job site at our NOMADS project house.  We had the usual devotions, singing and prayer at our daily meeting, then went over to our assignment.  The electrical inspector had not been there yet so we were left with a few odds and ends to do.

We split up into two groups.  Norm and Pat stayed upstairs and worked on putting some green sheet rock in the upstairs bathroom.  The rest of us put up a three sheets in the downstairs bathroom temporarily.

Around break time at 10:00

Alan showed up with a 16′ trailer which we loaded up with debris from our last three weeks.

When we were done, it was almost full.  And the side of the house had no more rubble.  It looked pretty nice.

We worked some more upstairs and before we knew it, it was time for lunch.

We ate outside in front of the house since it was such a nice day.

After lunch we went back upstairs and worked a little bit on some odds and ends.  Shortly after 2:00 PM Waylon showed up with a new air conditioner.

He is quite an interesting guy.  He has been working Disaster Relief things here since shortly after Hurricane Ike.

He and his boss have worked on 300 homes since that time and have been working this particular house for over a year.  Waylon shared a bit of his story and how he has been getting things right with God over the last few months.  He has found his niche here in Galveston with the air conditioning business and is making quite a difference.

We are a little concerned about our progress the last few days.  Can you imagine people in and out of your house for over a year?  We are working as fast as we can but we are dependent on the electricity getting checked out.  Once that is OK we can kick it into gear and put up the rest of the sheet rock and make some real progress.

Right now, we may not be able to finish before the project gets closed down the first week in April — another 10 days.  We will see.  We hate to leave it this way.  Not sure what happens to the two remaining houses if they are not finished.  Maybe the committee who oversees the repair work will contract the rest of the work out.

It was another beautiful day in Galveston.  Can’t have too many of those.  And my back is getting better, so I’m grateful for that.  I used some ice/cold and heat treatment all day along with a back wrap brace thing and my back did good.

We are getting excited about the weekend.  We fly out of Houston on Friday for Detroit and will see Adam and Meghan this weekend.  Kelly is going to go with us so that will be fun.

We also called the Tiffin factory at Red Bay to make sure they had us on the calendar for the week of April 5.  We are getting new pull-down shades and most of our dual paned windows replaced.  They confirmed the parts are on order and we should be ready to go when we get there.

Hope your weekend is going well.  Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles.

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

Using TRICARE in Galveston March 23, 2010

Yesterday Pam and I went to a doctor her in Galveston.  She has been having some blood pressure issues so we decided to find a doctor and see what’s up.

Becaue I retired from the military, we are members of the military medical health care system – TRICARE.  TRICARE is grouped into three regions across the country:  East, South, West.   Galveston is in the South Region and our home of record (Sioux Falls SD) is in the West Region.   It also has two plans:  Standard and Prime.

The way TRICARE Standard (vs TRICARE Prime) works, is that we look up the region we are in – TRICARE South – and choose a doctor from the list.  With TRICARE you pay a yearly fee to be enrolled.  We also have a deductible threshold with TRICARE Standard of $300/yr and a medical payment threshold of $3000/year.  In the event we have a number of doctor visits or are hospitalized, those costs are the most we could have to pay except for the co-pays.

We found a doctor and scheduled an appointment in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) here in Galveston.

They had to verify our insurance and call our home office in the TRICARE West region.  Sioux Falls SD, our home of record, is in the West Region.  Sure enough we are on the rolls.  UTMB made sure they had the right information with TRICARE West to arrange for billing.  

Pam liked the doctor who seemed to be attentive and very interested in her history.  We copied off some medical records and other information from her doctor in Virginia that Pam will take to her doctor here.  She wanted to confirm some things and may prescribe some additional items.

AFter the visist, we stopped by Wal-Mart with the prescription and picked it up later in the afternoon for $10.  So far so good and we’ll see how it all works out.

Other RV full-timers have other doctor arrangements but that is ours.  How to find a doctor was one of the big mysteries we contemplated before we got on the road.  A year before we left Fairfax, we switched our coverage from TRICARE Prime to TRICARE Standard just to check out the process and see if we liked it.

 With TRICARE Prime, you choose a medical treatment center.  In our case, it was Bethesda Military Medical Hospital when we lived in Virginia.  We were assigned a primary care doctor there and we could call and schedule an appointment when we needed to.

One of our fellow NOMADS, Paula, is a nurse and lent us her blood pressure cuff and we will be monitoring things the next few days  morning and evening until we get one of our own.

Meanwhile, my back is slowly getting better.  We made it to the work site but there isn’t a whole lot to do at the moment.  It is still very stiff and I don’t want to aggravate it.  Midway through the afternoon, I decided more could be gained for me by getting a heating pad on my back so we left early.

On the job site, we are finishing up some small sheet rock jobs while we wait to get the electrical wiring in the house inspected.  We notified the inspector we were ready and are waiting until he comes by.  Hopefully that will be done today.  We could use a sheet rock lift for the ceiling pieces, so Norm built one.   That will speed things up for us once we get rolling on it.

The requirement from the inspector is to leave the entire ceiling alone and one side of each wall so he can see where all the wiring is.  After Hurricane Ike, so much damage was done to the house that the entire wiring had to be redone.

The plumbing also has to be redone and it is being contracted out.  We watched some of the results of their work yesterday.  It is very common in Galveston to have plumbing and water pipes showing on the outside of the house.

Kelly went back to Dallas about mid-morning and Adam called in the early evening.  The weather has gotten significantly better and it was another beautiful day in Galveston.

Thanks for viewing today.  And thanks for taking the time and effort to leave a comment.  We appreciate  that too on the Roadrunner Chronicles…

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

Sunday in Houston Again March 22, 2010

We really like the First Baptist Church in Houston.

The message is clear and relevant, the worship is good.

And my nephew goes there.  Since Kelly is in town, we went back to see cousin Mark.

Kelly’s friend from Baylor, Megan, also joined us.  After church we went out to lunch at Mama’s Cafe.  I got to meet Megan’s boyfriend Mark, who sat across from me at the table.  He is a good guy and easy to talk to.

After lunch, we went by Megan’s place to meet her new pup – Buckley.  He is not quite house broken yet but a good little pooch.  Plus he is not a yapper which is nice.

Pam did all the driving while I took it easy and let me back get better.  I am still walking gingerly but it is making progress. I am hopeful I’ll be back to 90% is another day.  I’d say I am about 50% – 60% now.

We had an early team meeting yesterday so we could have a potluck of sorts.  Carol made enough gumbo for everyone and we enjoyed some fellowship before our weekly orientation meeting.  We met three new couples and everyone heard each others stories:  where they were from, what they did in their former life, how long they have been NOMADS and “anything else you want to tell us” which usually means kids and family.  I really like that part.

After that, Kelly and Pam went to the store for a few things and I put the heating pad on my back.  I watched the healthcare vote which is pretty depressing.  How are we really going to pay for all this?? It is pretty scary to me but all we can do is see how it works out.

Speaking of work – we are ready for another good NOMADS week.  Hope yours goes that way too and thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles.

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com