I, Diesel Mechanic

Friday, time to be moving on.  We made Sherry and Sophia a big pancake breakfast and then packed our stuff back in the RV and were on the road again just before 9am.

Since we were going right through Waco, we stopped at the Silos, the complex owned by Chip and Johanna Gaines.  All of the shoppes are a bit beyond our pay grade, but the bakery makes some great baked goods, so a splurge here only set us back about ten bucks.  We were in and out of there in under ten minutes.  We did the whole thing a couple of years ago when we came through here.  Don’t need to do it again.  But the muffins and cinnamon rolls are worth the stop.

We stopped in the town of Lott to make some lunch.  Lott appears to be a very desperate small town.  The city main street businesses all were empty/for sale.  After eating lunch parked by the city park, we took a short walk and happened on the Lott Elementary School building.  Even from a distance, this building had an abandoned look to it.  Close up, it looked even worse.  The place just looked spooky.  The weeds looked like they were winning the war and the power lines were cut.  We wondered if there was another school in town.

Turns out there was a brand new building several miles down the road.  The Lott/Rosebud School complex sprawled big and wide in the Texas countryside.  Must be they had to combine two school districts into one.  Desperate times call for some desperate measures.

We texted our group leader an ETA once we got underway after lunch.  About a half hour from our destination, we suddenly heard a loud hissing noise, like air escaping from something.  ​This can’t be good.​ We pulled off the road into a driveway and I looked things over.  It all appeared normal.  Tires all looked good.  Propane tank still at 86%.  Those were the only things that make that noise that I could think of.

I opened the hood.  All normal there, too.  I started it back up and had Deb rev the engine while I looked around.  Definitely a loud hiss, coming from the turbocharger pipes.  Looking closely at one of the joints, I could see the O-ring bulging out of one side.  There’s the problem.  Now can I fix it?

I tore several layers off the top of the engine, a job made more difficult by the engine being very hot.  It took a bit and made for some very greasy hands, but I managed to remove the turbo resonator, retrieve the O-ring, which was still in one piece, and put it back in the proper spot.

Once it was all back together, the hiss was gone, but there is a whistling noise when the boost pressure is high.  The seals will need to be replaced, but we are good enough to get back on the road.  Time lost, about 45 minutes.

We rolled into Tejas Camp & Retreat at just before 4pm.  One more couple came in shortly after us so now the group is all here.  We all stood around, introducing ourselves and trading some initial stories.  There is another group here, called RVICS, which operates similarly to our SOWER group.  There are also some independent volunteers here. All in all, there are probably 20+ RVs gathered in this parking area.  That’s a lot of volunteers.

We walked around the campus for a bit before dinner.  Since there is a retreat group coming in for the weekend, we are able to participate in the meals served to this group.  So meals will be in the dining hall this weekend and not on our postage-stamp sized table.

A couple of years ago, another SOWER couple had come to our project, having just served here at Tejas.  They called it bougie.  Sort of slang for fancy, luxurious, or high-class.  It certainly is a different class from some other projects we have served in.  Well laid out, lots of camp-like activities such as zip-lines, climbing walls, large slides into the pond, and a pool with a lazy river.  There is a retreat going on this weekend and we could hear a band practicing in one of the meeting buildings.  There will be 400 people here this weekend and the massive dining hall looks like it can fit all of them at once.

Should be an interesting few weeks.  Still not sure what we will be doing, although the women might be painting ceilings.  We will find out for sure on Sunday.

We had dinner in the dining hall.  The retreat group hasn’t arrived yet so it was a small crowd of perhaps 70 or so.  We’re starting the process of getting to know our fellow SOWERs.  It will probably take a week just to remember all the names.  Seems like a super-friendly bunch.  The joke around here is you will probably have to run the gauntlet of people in the road introducing themselves before you get a chance to park your RV.  We certainly experienced that.  Fellow SOWERs from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Texas and others.  Looking forward to seeing what the next few weeks will bring.

Miles to get here: 1373