We left Victoria about 11:00am on Wednesday to head for the A+ RV Park in Sulphur, LA for the October club rally which we figured would be an easy 5 hour drive. Our first stop, which is a tradition for any trips heading east on Hwy 59 toward Houston. was at Prasek’s Hillje Smokehouse for bakery goods……. especially sausage kolaches with cheese and jalapeños for me!!
As we walked out of the store, I saw these tall chairs and table that would fit well on my son’s patio with his new pool layout………. but since he and our DIL now make more money than us, they can drive over and buy them, and I will take credit for the discovery. Neat chairs……… wrong school!!!!!
This time, I also purchased a couple of quarts of engine oil since mine was a little low when I checked it at home. Big mistake………… I hurriedly added the oil to the engine, and looked for a place to throw away the container. I spotted a trash receptacle on the sidewalk, so I went to the Bus door and asked Patsy if she had any trash to toss. I tossed the container and a small bag of trash, walked back to the back of the Bus, and closed the engine access doors! Patsy heated my kolaches in the microwave, and off we went!!
About 20 miles down the road, I looked into my rear view camera, and saw brown spots all over the view in the camera!! At first I thought maybe a bird was riding on the roof rail directly above the camera, afraid to fly off at 65mph, and having the poop scared out of him!!!
Then it occurred to me……..”Did I put the oil cap back on the fill spout?”. As soon as I could, I pulled off the road, and found my answer……I did!! Oil was all over the back of the Bus, and on our towed car!!!
Now that, unlike Clinton, Obama and other great liars, I have admitted my stupid mistake, I don’t expect to ever hear about it from my friends…… and I do use that word very loosely!!!
I didn’t want to travel with all the oil on my equipment, so we looked for a solution as we traveled through Houston and eastward. We did not see a single car wash big enough for the Bus, and all of the truck stop truck washes were the drive-through type where they use stiff brushes and strong soap…. not on my Bus!!!
We eventually pulled off in a rest area, and I spotted a water faucet on the side of the parking area, away from traffic and any rest area officials. I parked, got out my long brushes, buckets, hoses, soap, & towels, went to turn on the water. Then I found out that the faucet was turned off elsewhere!!! Damn!!
Patsy and I have bucket-washed the rig before, so we filled two buckets, one with soap (this time Dawn that I purchased a little earlier at a Wal-Mart) and the other with clean water. Bucket washing involves using a small towel to wash an area with soapy water, and then rinsing it off with a larger towel with the clean water. With the oil, this method was not efficient, so we only cleaned from the white stripe and down.
Our next solution was to find a campground. We found one in Beaumont, TX and decided to pull in for the night, and clean up the rest of the oil. Once we got set up, there were too many trees for our Dish satellite, and the park had no cable although it was advertised! I talked to the manager, and he said the rates went up, and he cut the cable!! The new TV season is starting, and we wanted to watch the shows. I had not paid yet, so we unhooked and took off.
As we left, I looked on my GPS and found a Wal-Mart, where I planned to park the Bus, and unhook the car to drive it to a local car wash, and at least, get the oil off of it. That worked, plus I had gone into the Wal-Mart and purchased some engine degreaser to help get the oil off the car. We located a car wash that was very modern and clean, as well as having a soapy brush on a long handle as part of the equipment. At last, success on one of our vehicles!!!
We went back to the Bus, hooked up the car, and again, headed east on Hwy 59……… car cleaned, Bus kinda’ clean!!!
It was getting close to prime time, so we stopped at another Walmart in Orange, TX and spent the night watching our TV shows.
The next morning, we drove the rest of the way to our rally campground, checked in, and once set up, we finished up the bus cleanup by washing the entire back end, as well as the build up of ‘love bugs’ from the front. After a frustrating day on Wednesday, we were finally able to relax again.
After cleaning the rig, we took off on a Scenic Byway drive in Southern Louisiana. More on that in the next post.
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