Wheel Bearings and Tall Grass

The last trip was a quick up and back to pick up the tractor.  We needed to put new tires on it, and we got that done in time for this latest trip.  I made another solo run, or at least most of the drive.  Shelly rode with me as far as southern Michigan.  I dropped her off at her folks' house in Taylor.  Shelly's parents are moving soon, and she's helping to get their new place ready for them.

So, Shelly and I took off from Columbus around 3:00 PM on Friday.  We arrived at her folks' place, and after a short visit I hit the road again.  I got about an hour north of their place, which had me near the Brighton exit.  I heard some squealing and immediately thought "WHEEL BEARINGS!".  I quickly pulled over to the side of the road, and walking back to the trailer I touched the hub on the driver's side.  It was cool to the touch.  Over to the passenger side, and a quick touch of the hub told me all I needed to know.  The passenger side bearings had seized, and I knew I'd be going no further.  Fortunately for me we have a auto repair shop on the family, and a flat bed wrecker.  I called Shelly's brother and he immediately hit the road to rescue me.  He arrived about an hour later, picked up the trailer, and hauled it back to the shop in Flat Rock.  I headed to Shelly's folks house to crash for the night.

The next morning Shelly and I headed to the shop.  She was going to be borrowing a vehicle for the week so that she could get around while working on her folks' new place.  I needed to get the trailer fixed.  I bought the bearings at a local auto parts, and after getting the bearings replaced I was back on the road.  A big THANK YOU to Shelly's brother and father for all of their help. 

I finally arrived at Shangri La at 3:30 PM on Saturday.  The main purpose of this trip was to cut the grass.  It had been six weeks since our last trip, and after a whole lot of rain the grass was fairly long.

I got right to work at unloading the trailer and attaching the mowing deck to the tractor.  As the picture shows, things had gotten a good bit overgrown.  I was real proud of our 26 year old garden tractor.  She went right through all of this without slowing.  Here's the after shot of the same area.

Between the mowing and the weed whacking it took about three hours.  With the late start, when I was done...well, I was done.  I headed in, made some dinner, and relaxed for the remainder of the evening. 

The next morning I was up at 6:00 AM and I headed outside first thing.  The second big goal of this trip was to spray weedkiller on the driveway.  I was already late in doing this, and the weeds were already getting ahead of me.  I got about 3/4 of the way done when I got a call I had been expecting from a friend in our camping club.  He was north of our place, 4 wheeling in a Jeep Jamboree on Drummond Island.  They were driving back through on Sunday and we had made plans to meet for breakfast in Mackinac City.  I cleaned up and headed out.  I met with Chuck, his son, his sister and his brother in law.  It had been a while, and even though it was a short visit it was good to catch up a bit.  After breakfast I headed back to the house and finished up with spraying the drive.  Here's the before picture of the drive.  I'm hoping all of this will be gone when we head back up in July.

Our next trip up in July we'll be spending a whole week.  Our primary goal for the trip will be to clean and stain the cedar siding, and to paint the cinder block foundation.  We're also looking to have some fun while up this time.  Boating...fishing...canoeing...hiking...swimming...etc.  Whatever we feel like doing. 

This next pic will be one of the last of the house looking like this!

Talk to you all in July!