After several calls I ended up at the Arlington International Dealer. They scheduled the repairs Tuesday morning. So later Monday I loaded the car into the trailer and walked back to camp. The overflow parking for the trailer is about a 20-minute walk from the campsite. Early Tuesday I broke camp, hitched up and arrived at the dealership in time to unload the car and park the trailer inside the fenced lot prior to 7:30. They promptly diagnosed and quoted the repairs. Parts ordered work began during their 2nd shift and continued Wednesday and part of Thursday. Repairs and test drive completed, I started loading up the trailer around 3:30pm Thursday with new brakes. Seems some of the rubber parts in the pumps and cylinders had broken down and contaminated everything causing the sticking. Off I go into the Dallas rush hour in the rain. Yippee.
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who made the time here enjoyable and productive. They kinda looked after me while Lynn was in NY, checking on me after vaccinations and during inclement weather. And there was the delicious meal or treat from time to time to save me from my own cooking. Hopefully, our paths will cross again.
We received quite a surprise this morning. Seems we are being sent to help with a project of the regional office. We were specifically tasked with installing a fence around the parking area. Other improvements are slated to begin next week adding public access features around the slough. Turns out you can get a tractor to the regional office via trails through the refuge. Takes about an hour but is much safer than traveling on the open highways of Texas.
With continued residential growth in the area this unit is seeing outstanding usage. The parking area is often full and visitors are turned away due to overcrowding. The answer, an expansion of the parking area. New fencing around parking lot then gravel for parking lot repair and expansion. The parking capacity went from 5 to 18 cars.
We were also tasked with a smaller simpler kiosk for a trail to a noteworthy Live Oak tree located here on the refuge. I was quicker to build, required fewer materials and provides more than adequate space for the trail specific information display needed. Another problem was addressed by adding posts to restrain cars to the parking area and away from the trail.
Moving a sign would not seem like much of a task but, with the soil and dampness here any earthwork requires additional effort. The first task was to clear an area near the driveway to place the sign. Remove one 8” diameter tree and a great deal of brush, thank heavens for the “Billy Goat” mower, to provide access to the area and facilitate vision of the sign. We successfully found materials to replace the uprights since the existing ones were badly eaten by ants. Wrapped up this one and dug the holes for project 7(new San Bernard Oak Kiosk) by end of the day Thursday. Pretty productive week.
