Our week parked at Bretz RV & Marine, Oct 11-16, 2010

We have been here one week so far and I from what I know now, we will have another to go. Monday (11th) morning was early to rise for us, or should I say me, as we wanted to be at Bretz RV & Marine Service at 8 am. Knowing what we know now, we could have pulled into Bretz the night before and spent the night here on their overnight line with 50 amp and water, as they call it.

1. Bretz’s have ordered us new steps, they will be covered by our Extended Warranty Plan.

2. Also our new windshield is on order, that will be covered by our insurance and because we have had no claims for 3 years the diminishing deductible is down to $250 for us to pay.

3. Now, our slide issue. Bretz’s service tech adjusted the slide the best he could, but… and there is a big but!! Where one of the two supporting arms attach to the coach’s sub floor is the problem. This flooring area was damaged by a couple of ice maker water line leaks. The flooring is spongy, so the bolts will not hold securely, thus causing the sag. Also the bottom of the slide exterior needs replaced as well as it is separating and becoming soggy. Bob feels the two issues are related. So to fix, they need to remove the slide, pull back the carpet and reframe an area of the spongy floor that is being replaced. Also a special material called Filon needs to be trucked in to repair the slide bottom.

So timing for repairs, No’s 1 and 2 should be done early this next week, do believe the steps came in on Friday, not sure about the windshield.

No 3, is scheduled for Thurs, Friday and Sat. Probably will be close to 16 hours of labor plus materials. We will need to stay in a motel when they are working on the slide. Now if the weather will hold until all repairs are done, as we are in Montana and they are turning the water off the the overnight line where we are parked on Monday.

On Friday we visited Travelers’ Rest State Park. The Corps of Discovery camped here in 1805 and again in 1806 on their epic journey. Here I am trying to see what they saw when they were here.

This is the only archeologically verified Lewis and Clark campsite along the 8,000 miles of their journey. Their campfire pit areas have been excavated with evidence of a solid puddle (abt 1” x 2-1/2”) of lead, their diaries indicate they repaired their guns and replenished their ammo here. (Sept 9-11, 1805) The wooden posts mark two of the three campfires.

The lead found in the fire pit area.

Now, more evidence of the Corps being there was found in the latrine. Evidence of mercury. It seems two men were very sick when they were here so Lewis prescribed Dr. Benjamin Rush’s Bilious Pills – powerful purgatives that contained mercury. This event occurred on their return trip June 30 to July 3, 1806, check out Lewis’ diary for 7/2/1806. Bob is checking out the latrine area.

Working for the Lord doesn’t pay much…But the retirement plan is out of this world!