Like the leaves falling from the trees with each gust of wind around here, I seem to be losing my energy and stamina. It’s just about all tapped out. Is Yuma close in our future yet?
While never terribly enamored with this job, lately I am growing to loathe certain aspects of it. The dog problem is really out of hand at times and having come so close on several occasions to being attacked and/or bitten leads me to the point of paranoia entering fenced yards where I can’t tell what’s around back with the meter. My body has likely hit the wall, as my achy feet and day and night leg cramping not so benignly tell me. I don’t even have much interest in going out into our new environment to explore; a first for me. There’s just no extra energy to do so. When a job takes so much of your effort and energy that there is nothing left for your family, for yourself, for any fun, is it a job to endure?
Thankfully, we will need to head for Yuma at some point in the not-too-distant future for Marc’s major undertaking of replacing and repairing all our trailer axles. His quick week-long fix last year merely prolonged the agony and expense, as we’ve churned through tires to beat the band. We’ve worn the old girl out and she needs some TLC to keep going and serving as the Duske abode. Marc has always joked that we’ll pull this thing until the wheels fall off and we’re just about to that point, proving that at some point when you insist on overloading an RV there is a price to be paid. The next axles will be so stout; they should last for the rest of her lifetime. For yes folks, for us it’s a lifetime commitment with the old girl. We’ve never regretted purchasing one of the best RV’s made at the time this was manufactured, which sports a sturdy steel box frame unlike any of the popular models today. But like many manufacturers, Travel Supreme underpowered the axles from the get-go. And let’s face it: how many RVers actually own their original rigs for thirteen years and put them through the arduous use and climates ours has had to endure? She’s grimy, weather-beaten, losing her decals, and long ago her luster, but she’s still home. And a comfortable one at that.
I did get into downtown Rapid City during the beautiful day yesterday and took a stroll around and through the many fascinating antique malls. Old turquoise jewelry is huge here.
For ten bucks I found an old wrought iron ice cream stool missing the seat, which I will have Marc replace with wood and turn it into a plant stand. I figure it will look striking against my stucco privacy wall in Yuma, which I now can’t wait to return to. South Dakota is turning cold! Mountains can be wondrous, but I’m glad I don’t live in them anymore—cold and I just don’t agree with each other. The desert has her hold on me just as our old rig does.
