Coolerman
SILVER Star
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2004
- Threads
- 142
- Messages
- 6,739
- Location
- Paint Lick, KY
- Website
- www.globalsoftware-inc.com
Well this thread serves two functions today. First I'm back from the worst vacation I have ever taken in my life, and second is an announcement that the colored OEM fuses I have for sale are no more... 
The company that makes these fuses have stopped production and I have been unable to locate another source for these. I have a few left of the 15 amp Blue, very few of the the 20 amp Green but have plenty (over 40) of the 10 Amp yellow and 5 amp brown. So those of you that bought them, you now have a set of unobtanium fuses!
So why was my vacation so bad? Well... First :We went to Bryce Canyon, Utah. This is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. It's attraction is Bryce Canyon National Park which was our goal.
I have never in my life seen so many people in a national park at this time of year! Most of the people were on tour buses that had come from all over the country. Normally at this time of year the national parks are almost deserted due to colder weather. Not this one! The local campground we stayed at (pulled my camper out there) told us it never lets up even in the winter! It was so bad that one morning we waited 20 minutes just to get in the park due to the number of people. Once in, every single parking place at any view point was taken. We left in disgust, got a topo map that showed trails outside the park we could use to hike into the park, and see things most never see. After that we had a good time there.
The thing that made the vacation end on a bad note happened on the way home. Our trip was 4500 miles total. We left KY, went to Arkansas to see my brother, camped there for a night then left there headed to Utah via Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. We stopped in Santa Fe for a day so my wife and sister could shop then drove on to Meteor Crater which my sister had not seen then on to Utah. After our stay in Utah we left there and headed home via I-70 through Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois , Indiana and Kentucky.
The disaster occurred in Caseyville, Illinois just across the border from St Louis.
We had been on the road for three days and this day (Friday October 7th) I had been driving for over 14 hours. We were planning on driving on home another 6 hours so I needed to take a break. My wife loves Cracker Barrel and I knew there was one in Caseyville as we had stopped there on previous trips. We got off the interstate, pulled into the RV parking at Cracker Barrel and went in. Being so exhausted we did not even take our cell phones in. Right when our food was served I remembered I had forgotten my insulin pump controller, and went back out to my truck to get it. Everything was fine. 20 minutes later we exited and returned to the truck where we discovered that in that 20 minute time frame, some low life broke the drivers side rear door glass out of the truck, boosted a child into the truck, said child then proceeded to hand out the window to some adult, over $4000.00 worth of photographic equipment, computers, cell phones, clothing and gifts my wife and sister had purchased.
How did we know a child was involved? My Xterra was VERY dusty from some off-roading we did while in Utah, and there were dusty child hand prints everywhere inside and outside the truck. We have no children...
The cops basically told us that this is a bad area (East St Louis) and that there were organized criminals that would stake out a parking lot at a restaurant, alert someone the coast was clear, that someone then busts out the window, puts the child through the window (so the alarm never goes off from opening a door) and instructs them on what to get.
One of the cops then made the mistake of saying it was our fault for leaving anything in the truck! Really? So where exactly are we supposed to put the wheel barrel full of stuff they stole every time we stop? My sister proceeded to read him the riot act! He finally just got back in the patrol car...
On one hand I agree we could have probably done a better job of hiding the stuff but they would have simply taken a minute longer to find it and there would have been more truck damage had we tried to lock it in the glove box. Hard to put a camera tripod in the glove box not to mention two laptops.
Hind sight being 20/20 I will build some kind of locking storage box that bolts into the back of the truck for future trips....
The company that makes these fuses have stopped production and I have been unable to locate another source for these. I have a few left of the 15 amp Blue, very few of the the 20 amp Green but have plenty (over 40) of the 10 Amp yellow and 5 amp brown. So those of you that bought them, you now have a set of unobtanium fuses!
So why was my vacation so bad? Well... First :We went to Bryce Canyon, Utah. This is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. It's attraction is Bryce Canyon National Park which was our goal.
I have never in my life seen so many people in a national park at this time of year! Most of the people were on tour buses that had come from all over the country. Normally at this time of year the national parks are almost deserted due to colder weather. Not this one! The local campground we stayed at (pulled my camper out there) told us it never lets up even in the winter! It was so bad that one morning we waited 20 minutes just to get in the park due to the number of people. Once in, every single parking place at any view point was taken. We left in disgust, got a topo map that showed trails outside the park we could use to hike into the park, and see things most never see. After that we had a good time there.
The thing that made the vacation end on a bad note happened on the way home. Our trip was 4500 miles total. We left KY, went to Arkansas to see my brother, camped there for a night then left there headed to Utah via Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. We stopped in Santa Fe for a day so my wife and sister could shop then drove on to Meteor Crater which my sister had not seen then on to Utah. After our stay in Utah we left there and headed home via I-70 through Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois , Indiana and Kentucky.
The disaster occurred in Caseyville, Illinois just across the border from St Louis.
We had been on the road for three days and this day (Friday October 7th) I had been driving for over 14 hours. We were planning on driving on home another 6 hours so I needed to take a break. My wife loves Cracker Barrel and I knew there was one in Caseyville as we had stopped there on previous trips. We got off the interstate, pulled into the RV parking at Cracker Barrel and went in. Being so exhausted we did not even take our cell phones in. Right when our food was served I remembered I had forgotten my insulin pump controller, and went back out to my truck to get it. Everything was fine. 20 minutes later we exited and returned to the truck where we discovered that in that 20 minute time frame, some low life broke the drivers side rear door glass out of the truck, boosted a child into the truck, said child then proceeded to hand out the window to some adult, over $4000.00 worth of photographic equipment, computers, cell phones, clothing and gifts my wife and sister had purchased.
How did we know a child was involved? My Xterra was VERY dusty from some off-roading we did while in Utah, and there were dusty child hand prints everywhere inside and outside the truck. We have no children...
The cops basically told us that this is a bad area (East St Louis) and that there were organized criminals that would stake out a parking lot at a restaurant, alert someone the coast was clear, that someone then busts out the window, puts the child through the window (so the alarm never goes off from opening a door) and instructs them on what to get.
One of the cops then made the mistake of saying it was our fault for leaving anything in the truck! Really? So where exactly are we supposed to put the wheel barrel full of stuff they stole every time we stop? My sister proceeded to read him the riot act! He finally just got back in the patrol car...
On one hand I agree we could have probably done a better job of hiding the stuff but they would have simply taken a minute longer to find it and there would have been more truck damage had we tried to lock it in the glove box. Hard to put a camera tripod in the glove box not to mention two laptops.
Hind sight being 20/20 I will build some kind of locking storage box that bolts into the back of the truck for future trips....
