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Post by Clipper on Sept 21, 2022 11:16:25 GMT -5
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Post by Ralph on Sept 21, 2022 12:56:55 GMT -5
Enjoy, and safe travels!
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Post by Atticus Pizzaballa on Sept 21, 2022 15:34:52 GMT -5
Happy trails to you
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Post by Clipper on Sept 22, 2022 9:35:05 GMT -5
It turned out to be a great day. It was about 10 degrees cooler up on the mountain so we were able to sit in the shade overlooking what is the headwaters of the Doe River. The river at that point is only about 15 feet wide and a series of riffs and pools, babbling around rocks. I could see trout lingering in the current, facing upstream and waiting for their next meal. When we left to come home it was a pleasant 70 degrees. It was a welcome break from the mid-eighties here in the tricities. The trip reminded us both of our camping trips in NY State. We will definitely be camping there, hopefully in the next month or so. Weather is favorable to camping well into late November here.
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Post by BHU on Sept 22, 2022 15:15:41 GMT -5
It turned out to be a great day. It was about 10 degrees cooler up on the mountain so we were able to sit in the shade overlooking what is the headwaters of the Doe River. The river at that point is only about 15 feet wide and a series of riffs and pools, babbling around rocks. I could see trout lingering in the current, facing upstream and waiting for their next meal. When we left to come home it was a pleasant 70 degrees. It was a welcome break from the mid-eighties here in the tricities. The trip reminded us both of our camping trips in NY State. We will definitely be camping there, hopefully in the next month or so. Weather is favorable to camping well into late November here. Hopefully you reeled in a few rainbow's or brookies for the grill? |
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Post by Clipper on Sept 22, 2022 16:01:36 GMT -5
I will be going back. I didn't fish yesterday. Just relaxed, ate like I had never been to a cookout before, sat around the fire and enjoyed the company. I definitely will be going back there to fish though, even if we aren't camping at the time. It's about a 45 minute drive but easily accessible for this lame old chubby feller to get streamside. The sun was just right to see some trout that had to be 12 or 14 inches just hanging in the current below the riffs in about 2 feet of water. I saw three and the guy that was camping next to my sister and her husband said he had caught at least one or two every time he fished and said they were pretty tasty, and he said that he was surprised to see that no one else was fishing the whole week he had been there. It is a beautiful area. It is only a mile or so up up the mountain. The top of the mountain is over 6,000 feet in elevation. 7 more miles up the mountain and you cross into North Carolina.
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Post by Clipper on Sept 24, 2022 10:17:19 GMT -5
Weather here is much the same as in NY. The nights have been getting colder and last night there was scattered frost in the mountains and higher elevations. Nights have been in the low to mid-fifties and the days have been comfortably cool. Here in town we saw a low of 54 last night and I high in the 70's. My sister and brother in-law bailed out of Roan Mountain State Park just in time. They got home on Thursday afternoon. Yesterday morning there was a heavy frost and temperatures just above freezing up there. Dark and gloomy today with on and off showers.
I spent the better part of yesterday morning repairing the damage on their camper that occurred when my brother in-law turned too short pulling out of their driveway and damaged the side of their trailer. He ran the mailbox and post down the side of the trailer, tearing the folding grab rail by the door out of the side of the trailer, leaving it dangling by one screw in the bottom bracket. He also tore the plastic outdoor light by the door off and bent the folding steps so that they would no longer fold out or stow properly. There was a puncture in the fiberglass of the trailer made by the upper bracket as it was twisted off. I was able to fill it with a fiberglass reinforced, epoxy based spackle made for inside or outside use. It sanded nicely and by carefully touching up the paint with an artist brush the repair was completely hidden behind the new bracket when I installed the new grab rail.
The step is a completely different story. I was able to bend it back to where it could be folded in and out but it needs to be replaced. The bottom corner of the entrance door caught on something and the lowest 2 inches was rolled back in triangular curl that was beyond anything I could repair. I covered the hole where the light was ripped off temporarily with duct tape until the new fixture arrives from the manufacturer, and I can take the remainder of the broken fixture off to install and wire the LED replacement fixture.
I hope I saved them a couple hundred bucks. The grab rail was $52 and the epoxy was 8 bucks. The repair took me about 2 hours due to the drying time for the epoxy repair. Thankfully the structural integrity of the door casing where the screws went in was not damaged. At about 85 or 90 bucks per hour for the dealer to repair it would have cost them much more and the dealer probably would not have been as meticulous repairing the fiberglass under the grab rail bracket. As it is it will be expensive enough for them by the time the dealer replaces the steps and the lower panel of the Dutch door style entry door.
It took me about another hour or two to replace the mailbox and post. My brother in-law is a retired school teacher and not at all mechanically inclined or handy. I already had a 6 foot treated 4x4 post and a piece of 3/4 inch thick treated deck board so I was able to fabricate a new post. I had some scrap treated 2x10 that I ended up with when I bought a bunch of cut-offs from a contractor. They were left after he fabricated outside step risers. They were already 8 or 10 inch triangles created when cutting the risers so I was able to fabricate a triangular bracket brace to attach to the post and support the box. I cut it out on my scroll saw to look like a curled scroll and created the scroll look detail with a small chisel, a V shaped gouge and a mallet.
Sadly, they still have to take the trailer back to the dealer for the bottom door panel and step replacement and it will probably cost another 4 or 5 hundred for those repairs, but at least I was able to repair enough for it to be cosmetically acceptable for them to use it for the remainder of the season before taking it to the dealer.
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