 A two sided card given to those who came to pay their respects to the late President Bush. On Wednesday night, we called an audible to attend the public viewing of President Bush as he lay in repose at St Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston. Normally on travel days, we like to keep our agenda light and easy as these are mentally and physically tiring days; however, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I asked Will if he wanted to join me and I am so glad we went together....
This was an incredibly organized and well planned out event. 41 would have wanted nothing less. What we saw that night was a wonderful picture of humanity, a grateful community coming together to honor a great man despite all of the logistics involved in such an excursion. The lines were long, the weather was cool, added security was in place and it was certainly a large investment of time. All worth it. I tried to pay careful attention to the types of people who were in attendance. What I noticed was a blend of people of different ages, ethnic backgrounds and races. Black, White , Hispanic, Asian , many people speaking in a variety of languages in various accents. I pondered why all of these people took time out of their evening to spend a few hours driving in traffic and standing in a long line patiently waiting to barely get a minute to actually see President Bush’s flag draped, military guarded casket. What was their story and why did they come? Of course, I didn’t know any of those people, but I can only imagine that each family and person had their own version of their American Dream affected by the life of President Bush. On the ground at this event, I didn’t see or hear division, hatred, protests (thankfully) and vitriol. Just a very large group of thankful people who had the decency and respect to honor a man of such high integrity and character. For a brief moment, at least, we weren’t Republicans vs Democrats, Liberal vs Conservative. We were people simply coming together around a common theme. Respect... Well done, Houston. For me, the 1988 election was my first presidential election in which I could vote. As a student at the University of Georgia during the Gulf War, I had my first real appreciation for the might and unwavering resolve of the US Military. I’ve always had a deep respect for our men and women in military service and thank God that we had President Bush as the Commander in Chief during that period of our history. I came home that night with renewed optimism that this type of decency is still very much alive in America. Despite the amped up rhetoric in social and traditional media outlets this week (ok....24/7), I hope we won’t forget that as a society, we can do more together on key issues than we can on opposite sides of all issues. Political preferences will always be present. Despite that reality, my sincere hope is that integrity and character will always serve as great equalizers we can all rally around in how we choose to live in the world today. Thank you Mr. President - you were a class act. May your legacy be forever remembered. -Ash-
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 Having spent over 2 months(!) in an RV, I can tell you all what an RV full-timer does that’s quite different than what all of you anti-nomads do. It’s surprising how many changes there are. So without further ado, you might be a full timer if…
-Woodsman Will-  Most of the people reading this do not own an RV. But if you've ever stepped inside one, did you ever think how the slides come out? Or how the automatic jacks work? What about how the cabinets stay closed while driving? In this post, I'll explain the hows of the RV. If you have any other questions about this subject, ask us in the comments section below. I'll start with my favorite function: The slides. Our RV has four slides: The kitchen table and recliners, the refrigerator/pantry/stove, Nate's loft, and the master bed. The first three I mentioned run off of a hydraulic system. For those of you who don't know about hydraulics, think of it as a system of hoses that act like a straw. When the liquid inside is pushed or pulled, a piece of machinery on the opposite end of the pushing or pulling gets moved because of the vacuum or pressure caused by the moving liquid. The piece of machinery is attached to the slide, so the slide gets moved as well. That's how a hydraulic system works. The master bed slide is electric, so it runs off of a motor. We have a lot of slides for an RV, but it only takes about 90 seconds for them to all go out! While I'm on the section of hydraulics, I'll mention that our jacks run off of hydraulics. We have a pad that we can control all 6 of the them. The jacks are what stabilize the RV, and we have an Auto Level sequence that runs to level the RV with the jacks. Hydraulics are awesome! Our cabinets and drawers are special. They have a neat catch on them that is sandwiched between two small rollers when closed. Although this makes it harder to open, it really helps when we're driving to keep the things inside of them from sliding out. Our refrigerator also has a lock on it so that it doesn’t open during driving. All of our doors have straps to keep them in place while traveling, including our shower door! When we hook up to the truck, we attach a special power cord from the RV to it so that the fridge can stay cold, and the RV brakes can collaborate with the truck’s. The kitchen table folds up a little bit to conserve space while driving. If it didn’t fold up, the slide would crush it against our kitchen island when it goes in! Hopefully now you understand some of the functions of the RV. Ya’ll are now fully educated for a trip of your own! Maybe. -Woodsman Will-  Here's the slide for Nate's loft.  This is our front left jack. It is fully extended.  This is under the slide.  Here's our cabinet door. On the left hand side is an arrowhead looking thing. This fits in the 2 rollers on the right hand side.  This is our table folded in.  This is our table opened up. |
AuthorWill is 14, and enjoys running track, writing, Archives
December 2018
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