Slide Problem - Movie Day - Steak!

(El Paso, TX) Hi   Lo 53 -- Yesterday and last night was about the windiest conditions we've ever seen since we've been on the road. The gusts were around 50 mph. And unfortunately one of the huge gusts of wind moved our doorside slide enough to knock it out of adjustment. We found that out when we decided to bring it in when the winds started making us nervous. The slide came in fine, but later last night when we decided to run it back out we heard that dreaded sound of a gear slipping, and it ended up with about a one-inch gap near the top of one side. We went to bed and had a restless night as the winds howled (and we worried about our slide).

This morning we discussed the situation. Do we call a mobile tech while we're here? Do we try to get it in to a local RV service place? Or do we wait until we get to Tucson, where there seems to be more choices of RV service shops? Meanwhile I can't relax until I find out how bad the slide is, by trying it one more time. So nervously I hit the button, and it started coming in normally. I stopped halfway through the run and reversed it, and the gear grinded and the slide wouldn't move. So that settled it... I ran it the rest of the way in and we're leaving it in until we get it repaired. And after discussing it, we decided to wait until we get to Tucson, for one primary reason... we'll be there at least a week and I'd like to have a few days to make sure it was repaired properly. If we had it fixed here, we'd be leaving the area right after the job was done, leaving us no recourse if the problem recurs later. (We had that problem a couple of years ago, when it took three repairs, at three different locations, before the slide was fixed correctly.) This is our second round of slide issues in the 4 1/2 years we've owned Tumbleweed. The last time we had to have the slide motor replaced, along with some of the gears in the mechanism. We're hoping this time it will be only an adjustment.

We've learned our lesson. When high winds are expected we'll be bringing our slide in. And what about our large, full wall slide? It's on the side away from the wind, and that much heavier slide only extends about 18 inches (vs 30 inches for the shorter doorside slide) so there isn't as much hanging out there in the wind. So we're confident it's OK. (We'll know on moving day this week.)

So we now have a more compact living area, which we can live with temporarily. But the good news is, the TV looks a lot bigger. :)

Now on to a more positive report on our day... This afternoon we decided to make today a movie day. Ft. Bliss has a modern 10-screen cinema on post, so we went to see "Heaven Is For Real."

What a wonderful movie! Be sure to bring a hankie when you see it.

After the movie we headed about 25 miles southeast of El Paso on I-10, then north on a narrow, remote road heading to what seemed like nowhere.

We were headed to Cattlemen's Steakhouse, one of the finest steakhouses in the USA. I've been looking forward to a Cattlemen's steak ever since my friend Jim Maddox told me about it. It's way out in the country, with no signs or billboards to point the way.

I really splurged and ordered the "Cowgirl", a 1 1/2 pound T-bone. (I felt the 2-lb "Cowboy" would be a little extravagant.)  :)

Now THAT'S a steak! To say it was excellent would be an understatement. It was the tenderest, juiciest, and best flavored steak I've ever eaten. And I did eat the whole thing.

Dee ordered the fried shrimp dinner. (Seafood at a steakhouse? Horrors!)

She said it was excellent. The steakhouse is part of Indian Cliff Ranch, so after that great meal we spent about a half hour walking around the ranch grounds. They had many different animals for our viewing pleasure.

We can't get enough of watching prairie dogs. They're so adorable!

This attractive mural decorated the wall of one of the buildings.

It turned out to be a wonderful day. And it was good to take our minds off our slide problem. If this wind finally dies down tomorrow we have another full day planned.

See you then.