seajaycecil@yahoo.com

Willa and I are usually strapped in when we travel in the coach. There are exceptions, like ''potty breaks'' for the passenger and the regular trips to the ''snack cabinet'' and to the refrigerator for the occasional ''cheese, olives, and crackers'' or the occasional sandwich. Moving around the coach is always coordinated with traffic conditions. It has to be light traffic, straight roads if possible and as little walking as possible. When we are on the road and Willa is not in her chair I always advise her of pending situations. ''Hard curve to the left'' ... ''Tail light city ahead.'' One command that we have and have never used is ''GET DOWN." We both understand that moving around in the coach should be kept to a minimum but one of the advantages of motor homing is food and lots of it. I have instructed her that in the event of an emergency situation while she is out and about that I will shout the command ''GET DOWN'' and that means some very serious stuff is about to take place. It means that she should get on the floor or behind a wall if possible without hesitation because I am going to go hard on the brakes or take evasive action or both. The phrase is easy to remember, direct to the point and is not confused with any other phrase. Personally I think they should design a coach with a small refrigerator and a snack cabinet between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat. This would eliminate all that walking and the food would be real handy. They could also install a small crane to haul my fat butt out of the drivers seat when we park. We usually travel a little slower than the general ''traffic'' on the road and this gives us a buffer between us and the next car ahead of us because the ''traffic'' is usually moving away from us and it leaves room for the ''passers'' to pull in front of us if necessary. In my time motor homing I have driven a hundred thousand miles plus and I have never had to use the phrase ''GET DOWN'' and I hope I never do. There is no charge for this information and you can feel free to use it as necessary.... Seajay the sailor man......

Thanks for advise Brett. I will look into this when I get back home and let you know the resolution. I bought this coach with six thousand miles on it and to my knowledge the Alternator has never charged the house batteries. I actually figured that charging the ''house batteries'' would put too much load on the alternator and make it fail quicker. I also figured that the factory kept the house batteries and the chassis battery separated deliberately so that one could not affect the other. I have a switch on the dash so that I might use the house batteries to start the coach in an emergency. One situation is that this coach is almost always plugged into shore power. The exception is when we are on the road or boon docking and when we boon dock, we use the ''scooter'' (generator) We also have a solar cell on the roof that keeps the house batteries ''topped off'' but it would take forever to bring them up from no charge at all... (have I ever told you about getting nine years out of two house batteries ????) I O U ten cents for the advise and I will pay you the next time I see you unlike some people that you and I both know who will avoid payment on some pretext that the advise was wrong or incomplete or just stupid and stuff like that. But I will not call a ''name'' because I am a bigger person than that and he knows who he is and so do we .......... lol .......... GOD BLESS THIS GREAT NATION ... GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND BRING THEM HOME SAFE AND SOON Seajay the sailor man ...

Willa and I are ''second timers'' ... My first wife's name was Linda. We went to Alaska in 2000 in a Cobra pulling a Geo Tracker behind. It was a great trip and all was going well ..... We pulled into a grass spot to spend the night. I hopped out an pulled the key out of the tracker switch. You had to leave the key ''on'' so the Tracker would ''track'' behind the motor home. When you pulled the key out the front wheels locked and would not ''track'' any more. Early the next morning we bounced out of bed and hit the road. As we pulled on to the pavement I heard a ''singing sound'' ....... Kinda like the wind thru a slightly opened window. HUMMMMMMMM.... Linda checked all the windows. We were buttoned tight. HUMMMMMMM the singing sound was getting lighter.... HUMMMMMMMMMM wonder what it was. We went thru a small town down close to the border and a man pulled up beside us and honked. He pointed at the Tracker and said something about tires or something. I found a spot and pulled off the road. I got out and found the ''singing sound source''.... I said shux.... the front wheels on the tracker were locked in a slight ''turn'' and had been spinning and sliding at the same time. I reached into my pocket and, sure enough, there was the key to the tracker ..... I said Shux again... I had erased all the tread off both front tires. Both were down to the fabric. I said a loud SHUX. I unhitched the tracker and drove it to the nearest tire store. It was a combination beauty parlor, cafe, tanning salon, bar, gas station, nail salon and tire store. ..... after thirty minutes and two pints of blood and several canadian dollars I was sporting two nice new tires for the Tracker.... Moral of the story ............. CHECK EVERYTHING TWICE................... Seajay the sailor man ....

Everyone knows that the large propane trucks will not refill our tank on our motor home ........NOPE JUST WONT DO IT ..... INSURANCE THINGIE... I am sitting behind a garage in Denver waiting on a new transmission to come in. I am hooked up on water and electric and have permission to ''dump the gray'' as necessary. We have plenty of food and in four days we should have a new tranny in the old coach. I checked the propane and found that I have half a needle above empty......... OH DRAD.................''Yes Willa, I was going to get the propane filled at the next flying J but we didnt get to the ''next flyin J'' I said Shux.....................No one and I mean NO ONE would even talk to me about refilling my propane tank. I said Shux again. We discussed heating rocks in the microwave and sleeping with them on the foot of the bed..... NO GOOD.... We thought about running the heater but we are on a 15 amp drop cord from the window of the garage. No good ...... I said Shux again........... we talked about sleeping all day while it was warm and jogging all nite to stay warm. We were afraid we would get lost.. NOT GOOD ......... I finally called tripple A propane service and they said they could make me an ''adapter hose'' that would go from a 30 pound bottle of propane to my pressure reducer valve and I would have propane.......... AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAA... If you cant take the coach to the propane....BRING THE PROPANE TO THE COACH............ Now I have a hose and a propane bottle hooked to the coach and we are warm and clean and able to cook and Willa is talking to me again. I can exchange the bottle if necessary and I will always keep this filled bottle in the basement. It will have a ''plug'' in the opening and I will test it for leaks with soap and water and I will keep the adapter hose handy for emergencies when you are running our of propane and your wife is not speaking to you because she is afraid she is going to have to take a cold shower in a cold coach with cold food and all the ''bad stuff'' like that. WARNING ........... IF YOU ATTACH OR CHANGE YOUR PROPANE LINES ON YOUR COACH YOU MUST ''BUBBLE CHECK'' ALL FITTINGS FOR INTEGRITY AFTER ANY CHANGES ARE MADE ..... USE DISHWASHING SOAP AND A LITTLE WATER AND WATCH THE BUBBLES TO SEE IF THEY GROW.....THEY MUST NOT GROW ANY, NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT...... NONE......... CHECK ALL FITTINGS AND WAIT FIVE MINUTES AND CHECK IT AGAIN.......Only then are you safe. this useless information is for you choice of consumption but if you use it you will owe me ten cents the next time you see me and you can pay me then but on the other hand .......... IF IT DONT WORK FOR YOU ......... I NEVER KNEW YOU . Seajay the sailor man .... GOD BLESS THIS GREAT COUNTRY .................

I have a 2000 Pace Arrow and I believe my house batteries are charged from shore power only. I can be wrong on this but once I had the inverter (120v to 12v) stop working and my house batteries would not charge on the alternator alone. I drove all the way to Florida and they were dead as a door nail when we got there. I checked the inverter (the one under the stove that is soooooo easy to get to) and it was not working at all.. I installed a new one and everything went back to normal... I now do have a solar cell on the roof that will ''maintain'' the house batteries but it would take a month in the Mohave desert to recharge them with it. My generator (scooter) will also recharge the house batteries if the inverter is working also. If you have enough solar cells on you coach you can re charge your house batteries also but it takes several cells .. This is worthless info from Seajay the sailor man and if you use it you will owe me ten cents and you have to pay me the next time you see me ........ on the other hand if it dont work for you ............... I NEVER KNEW YOU............. GOD BLESS OUR VETS AND THANK THEM FOR THEIR SERVICE ANYTIME YOU SEE A VET ...... Seajay the sailor man...... ps. did i tell you about getting 6 years out of my house batteries that were only suppose to last 3 years?

WORTHLESS INFO FROM SEAJAY THE SAILOR MAN One. When you move the slides by hand you have to release the break lever on the end of the drive motor to do so. ALWAYS REMEMBER TO RE ENGAGE THIS LEVER AFTER YOU ROLL THE ROOM BACK INTO THE COACH. If you do not it is possible for this room to ''run out'' if you round a sharp curve in the road. NOT GOOD....... My slides work on a ''rack and pinion'' method and I assume yours are the same. Once I broke the roll pen that goes thru the pinion that moves the rack that extends the room..... It broke when we moved the room IN. We didnt know it was broken but we noticed the bed room slide didnt come all the way in as usual. We disregarded this until we hit the road and went around a sharp curve and noticed that the bedroom slide was now out about 4 inches. OOOOOOPS with some swearing and a lot of pushing I got it back inside the coach where it should be and I got luckey and found a 2x4 and sawed it off to fit the crack and hold the bedroom in till i got home and fixed the gear .... I now carry two boards the proper length to hold the rooms in if necessary. If you use this information you will owe me ten cents and you have to pay me the next time you see me ........... on the other hand if you use this information and it does not work for you ...... I NEVER KNEW YOU ........ Seajay the sailor man..... GOD BLESS THIS GREAT NATION ................... ps ......... the idea of checking your house batteries is a good one. they are the ones that lower your jacks and run you rooms in and out and if they arent in good shape and fully charged......... nothing works like it should .......

THE NO SIGNAL THINGIE WORKED AGAIN .... We were stuck with car trouble just out of Red Rock Canyon in Nevada. The old cell would not raise a soul. No bars,,,,,,,,, nothin,,,,,, and I needed a wrecker for a tow....... I punched in 911 and in less than three rings a ''lady sheriff'' asked what was my emergency............... BINGO ............ She got me in touch with a service and I eventually worked out the problem by getting another motorist to take us back to Vegas so we could get the coach and the trailer. REMEMBER THIS GUYS..... TRY 911 IF NOTHING ELSE WORKS FOR YOU..... this is free to everyone ............ no charge from Seajay ............. God bless our vets God bless our troops and bring them home soon Seajay the sailor man ......

FELLOW VETS............... I am stuck in Denver, Colorado waiting on a new tranny for my Pace Arrow. The old one gave up the ghost back on 70 eastbound at 251 mile just out of Denver. I would like to apologize to all for my deselection of duty for about the past month. I have not taken the opportunity to WELCOME NEW VETS to the forum and I am totally ashamed of my self. For some time I had no internet because of my location out in Upper Lake, California. When I did have internet I was busy fixing something or getting stranded somewhere or something falling apart. I give you guys my word that I will get back ''squared away'' when I get back home and get my ''stuff'' together. I fully intended to go by and see a couple of you guys on this trip but it just didnt work out due to circumstances beyond my control. I am still working toward some kind of VETS REUNION somewhere this spring or summer. I will try to draft a cover letter to you guys and get some input as to your travels so we might get the biggest crowd together at a convenient place to most of us... all this is yet to be seen and worked out. Anyhow................ WELCOME NEW REGISTERED VETS AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO THIS GREAT NATION GOD BLESS THIS NATION GOD BLESS OUR VETS GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND BRING THEM HOME SAFE AND REAL SOON ............... Seajay the sailor man ..........

Wayne, I am proud of you. You are pretty ''snart'' or should I say ''REAL SNART'' I hereby take back some of the things I have said in the past about Marines and how ''snart'' they are not. The only thing I can figure is that you must have gone to a Navy school on computer stuff to know all this stuff. I O U ten cents for this valuable information and I will pay you the next time I see you. Seajay the sailor man GOD BLESS THIS GREAT NATION . GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND BRING THEM HOME SAFE ps. you might add to click on ''preview post'' so they can actually ''see'' what their post looks like before they post it.... that will be ten cents to me the next time you see me ..........lol.....

Ok guys........ Lets beat the dead horse Specific Gravity Readings “True†State of Charge The specific gravity (SG) of the battery acid or electrolyte is the truest and most absolute measure of a battery’s state of charge. (ability to do work measured in Amps) The SG reading is NOT greatly or adversely affected by the load on the battery. Basically if a battery is 50% charged, it will read a specific gravity of 1.200, regardless of whether the battery is on charge, being discharge or being stored. This is not the case for voltage readings. Specif gravity of the battery acid is the absolute measure of a battery's STATE OF CHARGE ... STATE OF CHARGE is related to and proportional to the ability of WORK (measured in amps) a battery is capable of doing and this is measured in AMPS. I can take eight flash light batteries and make 12 volts but you cant start your coach with it. You can burn a flash light but try as you might it will not start your coach. Wanna know the reason ... NOT ENOUGH AMPERAGE POWER. The ''true state of charge'' of a battery is related to the work capability the battery was designed for. In effect, the larger the number of battery cells and plates in each the more ''work'' this battery is capable of performing and the longer it can perform said work. Or simply stated ... If a battery is fully charged, it is capable of doing what it was designed to do for a specific time under a specific ''work load'' (amperage drain) ... If you specific gravity reads low then you have one of several situations. one ........ the battery needs charging from an outside source.... two......... the battery needs enough electrolyte solution to cover the plates that actually produce the energy three..... the cell plates are corrupted in some manner. age, deposits, lack of fluids, heat, etc etc etc four... the capability of the cells to produce work (amps)is long since past and the battery must be replaced All these situations result in a battery that is not FULLY CHARGED (low amperage).......... B I N G O ......... DEAD BATTERY............. AND THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY WILL READ LOW TO NONE........... TWO...... Oil on the posts........ Go to Wally World and look in the automotive section/battery stuff........ find two little ''felt thingies'' in a pack One of them is green and the other one is red. They look like a small doughnut. If your battery has posts sticking out the top, this is where they go. Install them and put a ''dab'' of oil on each one and it will help to prevent most of that crud and corruption from forming on the post. Also, if you will put the RED ONE on the positive post of the battery and the Green one on the other post of the battery you can easily determine which is the + post and which is the - post should you need to hook a jump start or a separate charger if necessary. Also,,,,, concerning the battery filler thingie. this is a single purpose item good for filling a battery with water only. consider my pyrex measuring cup. one...... you can measure out the ingredients of a cake using it. You can get exactly half a cup of water with it if necessary. You can use a ''ratio'' to mix up stuff if you need to like four to one and read the scale easily. You can put a little water in it and a little Jim Bean and mix it up nicely and have a ''sip'' right out of the cup if it happens to be cold outside while you are working on your battery . Baking soda and water also work well to remove the crud on the battery posts. All this said I REALLY BELIEVE THIS HORSE IS DEAD AND IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT I GOT 6 YEARS OUT OF TWO 6 VOLT BATTERIES THAT WERE SUPPOSE TO LAST 3 YEARS AT BEST ......................... Seajay the sailor man .......... I yield the podium .........

Well ''shux'' Herman got his batteries for sixty dollars at Sams Club and I paid an arm and a leg and a good hat for mine but I got them installed for free and the old ones taken to the recycle bin. As to the ''longevity'' of the batteries. USE DISTILLED WATER AND NOTHING ELSE.... not even a drop of any kind of water but DISTILLED WATER... and KEEP THE BATTERY UP TO THE ''MARK'' with the water. I check mine every trip and I check them about every week we are on a trip. Mine are in that ''handy place'' next to the drivers door with the lid that you hold up with your head while you reach deep inside the compartment, in the dark, with your mirror and your flash lite in your mouth and try to see how much water to add after you remove the caps with a small hammer and chisel .......... One other tip is that I use a pyrex measuring cup and you can about bet if one ''cell'' holds 3/4 of a cup to fill it, the rest will do the same. I always carry a gallon of DISTILLED WATER in the compartment beside the battery place, a mirror, a flashlight, my measuring cup, a ball cap (to keep my head clean) and a pint of Jim Beam. lol.... Anyhow............ Get yourself one of them ''hygrometer'' thingies and check you batteries with it occasionally and if you need batteries GO TO SAMS CLUB IF YOU CAN FIND ONE.............. It is my guess that each of you guys owe me ten cents for this valuable information.... You can pay me the next time you see me..... Seajay the sailor man.......... GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND KEEP THEM SAFE AND BRING THEM HOME SOON GOD BLESS OUR VETS ............ PS one other thing about the batteries ...... KEEP THE POST CLEAN .... You can pour Coke on that cruddy stuff that accumulates on the posts and it will dissolve it. then hit it with some water and then some light oil.........KEEP EVERYTHING CLEAN AND TIGHT and you should get some long life out of your batteries (that will be another ten cents guys. I cant give all this info out for nothing) (I wish I could think of something else to charge you for but my mind is blank right now)

It came as a rude awakening that six volt house batteries will not last forever....... Yep. they wear out just like anything else. Case in point. Willa and I pulled into Sams Town R.V. park and gambling hall and our jacks refused to go down. We pushed the little ''on button'' and it would blink green and then go out. I said Shux......... Both she and I fuddled with the button for a while and it simply would not work. Mind you, the night before when we boon docked at Whiskey Petes and I won one hundred and fifty bucks playing blackjack, everything was working fine. After a while we said to heck with the jacks we would just roll the rooms out and maybe this would level the coach. We tried to roll the living room out. NOTHING..... We tried rolling the bedroom out.......... NOTHING.......... I said Shux again......... I started checking fuzes. One pannel and then the next............ NOTHING WRONG.... Again i said ''Shux''.......... I noticed that the terminals on the house batteries had some corruption on them so I cleaned and polished everything and still nothing worked This time I said ''heck and shux''.... After I called the people that made the inverter that changes the 110 into 12 volts for the batteries and found out it was working properly I went over to Wall Mart and spent 89 cents for a Hygrometer. This is a ''thingie'' that tells if your battery has amperage. Yep, thats the stuff that starts your motor and works your jack pump and your slide out motors ........ AMPERAGE ........... 12 volts on your volt meter dont mean spit if you dont have amperage......... I found out I had two dead cells on one battery and one dead cell in another one. How could this be,,,,,.......... the batteries are only six years old ............ The guy down at the battery place here in Vegas told me that these batteries should only last at most four years and if I had gotten six years out of my house batteries that I must be living right and putting distilled water in them when they need a drink ..... I told him one out of two aint bad ............. Lesson for all in FMCA.... GO TO WALLYWORLD AND SPEND 89 CENTS FOR A HYGROMETER TO TEST YOUR BATTERIES WITH. IT WILL SAVE YOU A LOT OF HEAD BUMPING AND SAYING ''SHUX'' AND OTHER STUFF. And also remember that your house batteries will last at best about four years and they will let you down all of a sudden in the most in opportune places .......... If you use this advise you will have to pay me ten cents the next time you see me because good advise is not cheap .... on the other hand if you use this advise and it does not work to your advantage............... I NEVER KNEW YOU ................... Seajay the sailor man .................. GOD BLESS THIS GREAT NATION .............

WONDERFUL............... (personal thought........ Wayne, you got way too much time on your ''hands'') GOD BLESS THIS GREAT NATION Seajay the sailor man............

Thank you so much for this posting. I want everyone in FMCA that finds a memorial to our honored vets to please post its location here so that everyone can go pay homage to these great men. We are losing our WWII vets at over one thousand men per day now because of their age and I feel we should honor these great men for their sacrifice and their service to this country. I will book mark this location and the next time I am in the area I will pay homage to these great men. GOD BLESS OUR VETS GOD BLESS THIS GREAT NATION .... GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND BRING THEM HOME SAFE AND SOON .... Seajay the sailor man ....

I would like to take this opportunity to inform everyone that we have lost a member of FMCA. His name was Bill Vogel of Upper Lake, California. Bill was an avid hang glider pilot. He had won a wall full of trophies and various championships in and around California. He and Cathy were good friends we met on a caravan in 07. They were lots of fun and easy to be friends with. In 08 we went by to spend about a week on the ''back patch'' on their property up in the Sierra Mountains. We had planned to meet them in Vegas in October for an AARP convention and then go roaming around for a time and just do pretty much nothing and do it well like Wayne the Marine. This was not to be as Bill was killed in a hang gliding accident on the 19th of September. We were about 1200 miles away and we drove on to California to help Cathy with what ever we could do. We lost a good friend and I was master of ceremonies at his ''Bills Celebration of Life'' ceremony. It was well attended by his friends and lots of his hang gliding buddies. Three days after his death I wrote a poem in his honor and I would like to post it now. It is all ''capps'' but I needed to write it that way for easy reading at his ceremony ... WHERE EAGLES TOUCH THE SKY WHERE EAGLES DARE ... I’VE WATCHED MEN GO TO FLY THEIR KITES AND FEEL THE GLOW OF WIND AND SUN AND CLEAR BLUE SKY AND WATCH AN EAGLE PASSING BY. ELK MOUNTAIN IS THE PLACE THEY GO UPON A RIDGE SO TALL I STOOD AND WATCHED AS THEY PREPARED, AFRAID THAT I MIGHT FALL. THEY BUILD THEIR KITES AND SETTLE BACK AND WATCH THE WIND GO BY THEY JUDGE THE WIND, THEY SAT AND TALKED, THEY EVEN WATCHED THE SKY THEY WATCHED THE RIBBONS ON THE FACE AND JUDGED THE WIND AS IT DID RACE UP MOUNTAIN SLOPE AND PASSING BY THEY WATCH THE EAGLES IN THE SKY. THE WIND IS RIGHT, TIS TIME TO GO INTO THE FRAGILE KITES BELOW AND EACH IN TURN WILL STEP AND FLY LIKE EAGLES THEY WOULD TOUCH THE SKY. WHILE ON THE GROUND I STAND IN FEAR AND WATCH THEM AS THEY DISAPPEAR IN THERMALS WITH UPLIFT AND GRACE, I WATCH THEM DISAPPEAR IN SPACE. THE RADIO IT CRACKLED LOUD AS THESE BRAVE FEW DANCED IN THE CLOUD "I’VE GOT GOOD LIFT. COME! FLY TO ME" THEY TOUCHED THE SKY AND THEY WERE FREE ON MOUNTAINTOP I STAND IN AWE AND WATCH BRAVE MEN IN FLIGHT THEY DANCE AND DIVE AND CIRCLE ROUND, DO THINGS I WISH I MIGHT. "HOP IN THE TRUCK, ITS TIME TO GO FOR THEY ARE HEADING DOWN BELOW AND WE MUST GO STRAIGHT TO OUR PLACE." SO DOWN THE MOUNTAIN WE DID RACE. THE RADIO IT CRACKLES LOUD, "YOU’RE GONNA BUMP INTO A CLOUD" AND LAUGHTER FILTERS FROM THE SKY, ABOVE OUR HEADS THEY DANCE AND FLY. THEY DANCE THE DANCE OF FREEDOM SKY AND WE WILL NEVER KNOW THE FEEL OF FREEDOM IN THE SKY LIKE LEAVES OR FALLING SNOW. WE WATCH THEM AS THEY FLY SO HIGH, WE’LL NEVER KNOW THE REASON WHY THEY RISK SO MUCH, AND GO SO HIGH, TO SOAR LIKE EAGLES IN THE SKY. SO SOAR, MY FRIEND. ABOVE THE CLOUDS FOR THERE’S A PLACE FOR YOU WHERE WINGS WILL NEVER LOSE THEIR LIFT, THE SKY IS ALWAYS BLUE THE EAGLE’S NOW YOUR FRIEND YOU SEE AND LIKE AN EAGLE YOU WILL BE, YOU’LL FLY WITH HIM ON WINGS OF GOLD FOREVER YOUNG AND NEVER OLD I’V STOOD AND WATCHED THE BRAVE MEN GO WHERE ONLY EAGLES DARE TO FLY, I’VE STOOD AND WATCHED, I WAS RIGHT THERE WHEN BRAVE MEN TOUCHED GOD'S CLEAR BLUE SKY DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF MY FRIEND BILL "BIRDMAN" VOGEL AND ALL HANG GLIDER PILOTS EVERYWHERE. C. RICHARD CECIL ... "SEAJAY" Some of this is compiled from the experience we had last year when we went up on Elk Mountain to watch Bill and his friends fly their hang gliders.

The ''Sham Wow'' seemed to work very well for me also. I took one and draped it over my squeegee and wet it down with just plain water and I scrubbed the passenger windscreen with it and it removed the bugs just fine. The only real problem I found is that it left a ''film'' on the windscreen. To resolve this I took the Sham wow off the squeejee and shot the windshield with my cleaning compound and rubbed it with the squeegee and then ''bladed it off'' and it worked like magic. The great problem is that we have two small dogs and they put their noses against the windshield on the inside and leave traces of dog snot on the window. I just take the squeegee inside and shoot the windshield, scrub it down, and squeegee it off. I always lay a big towell down before I start this procedure to catch the ''drippings'' and it all works just fine. I also have one of those long handled ''thingies'' the show on t.v. for cleaning the inside of windshields and it seems to work fine. You can get them at Wallyworld for about ten bucks .....It also works well on ''inside windows''.... Be safe on the road and if you use my idea about the ''windshield cleaning thingie from Wallyworld, you will have to pay me ten cents the next time you see me and if it dont work for you... I NEVER KNEW YOU .................. Seajay the sailor man....... GOD BLESS OUR VETS GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND BRING THEM HOME SAFE .....

HIDING PLACES...... one problem with booze on the ship was that ''surprise locker inspection'' sometimes after we would leave a foreign port. Usually the Master at Arms would single out a few guys occasionally and march your butt down to your locker and demand you ''open up'' for inspection.... They had no time to ''prepare'' so some got caught with booze in their locker. Now I want it understood at this point that to my knowledge NO ONE EVER GOT DRUNK ON OR OFF. We just liked a little ''taste'' to keep the ''skeeters'' away. Maybe just a little ''swish'' to ward off a cold, or malaria, or bubonic plague, or the rickets or because it was a weekday or the weekend or what ever........ It didnt take too long to figure out that there was an ''UPTAKE SPACE'' that ran thru our compartment. It had a lock on the hatch that looked like it hadnt been opened since the ship was new. No one knew where the key was for this UPTAKE SPACE. HUMMMMMMMM, We cut the old lock off and replaced it with ''our lock''. Inside the UPTAKE SPACE there is a ladder, landings, wires, pipes for air, water and lots of other interesting things. The good part was that there was not another access door for at least three decks up or down as I recall. The bundles of pipes had just the right amount of space between them and bulkhead so that a pint would fit nicely in that space. You could cram paper in first, then a bottle, then more paper and you had a ''hide'' that no one ever found even if they inspected the UPTAKE SPACE.... We were on the honor system to never touch another mans stash without permission from said sailor. Like Wayne, we had a cola machine on the 01 level that dispensed colored water that fizzed for a nickle. It made a good mixer if we could not get tomato juice for the vodka. I will not say for sure but I suspect there are bottles still hidden in that uptake space left there by forgetful sailors that got transferred and didnt take their ''stash''. There was nothing so nice as to get off an eve watch, go to midnight rations and then make yourself a ''mixer'' and take your blanket out on the main deck. We would spread the blanket on the head of the ''wildcat'' (the thing that retrieved the anchor), kick back and watch shooting stars on the darkened ship (no lights exposed outside) until you got relaxed. We did have one problem that we quickly resolved. We had a Master at Arms named ''Pappy'' He was a third class gunners mate that had been in the Navy since before they used sails. He was sharp as a tack and mean as a snake. No one liked 'Pappy'' even he didnt like himself. You could be walking down a passage way with a ''cup of cola'' in your hand and he would pop out and yell....''STAND TO SAILOR'' He would take the cup from your hand and sniff it. It better come up cola or you were in deep trouble with ''PAPPY''. He even enforced a ruling that if you bought a cola on deck you had to stand there and drink it and toss the cup in the trashcan......We outfoxed him by using coffee cups for our mixers. Lots of guys walked around with a coffee cup in hand. He never caught on to that...... I will say this for the old S.O.B., he would drop a piece of paper on the deck and hide and watch it. If you came along and picked it up, he would hand you a dollar. Been there, Done that...... Heck of a surprise.... So it happened on the Norton, steaming in a circle a thousand miles from nothin.......... GOD BLESS OUR VETS .... GOD BLESS OUR SERVICE PERSONNEL AND BRING THEM HOME SAFE ........ Seajay the sailor man.....

HIDING PLACES...... one problem with booze on the ship was that ''surprise locker inspection'' sometimes after we would leave a foreign port. Usually the Master at Arms would single out a few guys occasionally and march your butt down to your locker and demand you ''open up'' for inspection.... They had no time to ''prepare'' so some got caught with booze in their locker. Now I want it understood at this point that to my knowledge NO ONE EVER GOT DRUNK ON OR OFF. We just liked a little ''taste'' to keep the ''skeeters'' away. Maybe just a little ''swish'' to ward off a cold, or malaria, or bubonic plague, or the rickets or because it was a weekday or the weekend or what ever........ It didnt take too long to figure out that there was an ''UPTAKE SPACE'' that ran thru our compartment. It had a lock on the hatch that looked like it hadnt been opened since the ship was new. No one knew where the key was for this UPTAKE SPACE. HUMMMMMMMM, We cut the old lock off and replaced it with ''our lock''. Inside the UPTAKE SPACE there is a ladder, landings, wires, pipes for air, water and lots of other interesting things. The good part was that there was not another access door for at least three decks up or down as I recall. The bundles of pipes had just the right amount of space between them and bulkhead so that a pint would fit nicely in that space. You could cram paper in first, then a bottle, then more paper and you had a ''hide'' that no one ever found even if they inspected the UPTAKE SPACE.... We were on the honor system to never touch another mans stash without permission from said sailor. Like Wayne, we had a cola machine on the 01 level that dispensed colored water that fizzed for a nickle. It made a good mixer if we could not get tomato juice for the vodka. I will not say for sure but I suspect there are bottles still hidden in that uptake space left there by forgetful sailors that got transferred and didnt take their ''stash''. There was nothing so nice as to get off an eve watch, go to midnight rations and then make yourself a ''mixer'' and take your blanket out on the main deck. We would spread the blanket on the head of the ''wildcat'' (the thing that retrieved the anchor), kick back and watch shooting stars on the darkened ship (no lights exposed outside) until you got relaxed. We did have one problem that we quickly resolved. We had a Master at Arms named ''Pappy'' He was a third class gunners mate that had been in the Navy since before they used sails. He was sharp as a tack and mean as a snake. No one liked 'Pappy'' even he didnt like himself. You could be walking down a passage way with a ''cup of cola'' in your hand and he would pop out and yell....''STAND TO SAILOR'' He would take the cup from your hand and sniff it. It better come up cola or you were in deep trouble with ''PAPPY''. He even enforced a ruling that if you bought a cola on deck you had to stand there and drink it and toss the cup in the trashcan......We outfoxed him by using coffee cups for our mixers. Lots of guys walked around with a coffee cup in hand. He never caught on to that...... I will say this for the old S.O.B., he would drop a piece of paper on the deck and hide and watch it. If you came along and picked it up, he would hand you a dollar. Been there, Done that...... Heck of a surprise.... So it happened on the Norton, steaming in a circle a thousand miles from nothin.......... GOD BLESS OUR VETS .... GOD BLESS OUR SERVICE PERSONNEL AND BRING THEM HOME SAFE ........ Seajay the sailor man.....

I would like to welcome each new member who has registered recently. My situation is that I am on the road right now and my Internet is not the best, to say the least. I welcome each one who has registered and I especially welcome our first lady vet to this forum. Remember this guys: Fresh showers, spiff up, clean undies and NO FREEKIN CUSSIN, cause we have a lady present now. Here is a special welcome aboard to Capt. Cathe Spangler. All respects to you, shipmate, and it's great to have you aboard (remember this guys: she can give you the ''square needle'' in the left thing, so be nice). Wind to your backs guys ... smooth seas ahead ... I will get back on board with this forum as soon as I get back home. I came out to California to attend a funeral for a dear friend who was U.S. Air Force vet and also an FMCA member. God bless our troops and bring them home safe. Seajay the sailor man

Sneaking Booze on board ..... One trick we would use was to buy pints of booze and hide them in our ''P'' coat lining. Up in Norway and Sweden we always wore our winter uniforms and that included ''P'' coats. Some of the guys would carefully slit the lining of the coat and sew pockets in it. These could be used for smuggling sea store cigarettes off the ship and booze back on the ship. Over there you could get fifteen dollars American for a carton of Camels and with the right arrangement you could smuggle four cartons of Camels off the ship in your ''P'' coat pockets. Back then in 60 forty dollars was big money. Close to half a months pay for some of us. The ''smuggle'' worked well as long as you didn't get really stupid. Four cartons were easy to buy and easy to smuggle. Four pints were easy to hide and easy to bring back on board as long as you didn't fall down or ''jingle''...... All went well until some of the guys started trying to smuggle ten cartons off the ship. They looked really stupid going up to the quarter deck looking like they weighed four hundred pounds. One guy came back on board with eight pints hidden in the pockets. As he stepped off the gangway he tripped and fell on the steel deck and broke about half of the pints.. Booze ran out of the ''P'' coat like a river and they hauled him off to the brig. From then on when you went ashore you had to put your ''P'' coat over your arm for inspection and the same when you came back aboard. We could still smuggle off a carton of Camels by taping them to the small of your back vertically up your spine but the tape sure was fun to remove ....... We could also smuggle a pint of booze back on board the same way. So it went aboard the Norton with the blue eyed blonds of Norway ...... Seajay the sailor man ..... GOD BLESS THIS NATION GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND BRING THEM HOME SAFE ....

Sailors sometimes drink too much also We were over in Scotland in the winter time. January as I recall. We went over on a ''Good Will Tour'' and visited several of the Scandinavian Countries. On a Navy pier there is no hand rail or guard rail of any kind. There is however a ''kick rail'' attached to the pier. There are ''bolards'' that the ship is tied to when in port but no types of safety devises to keep you from falling off the pier...... Here in lies the sea story..... I had the dirty duty and when I secured from the eve watch (about eleven thirty at night) I wandered up on the after brow. (rear quarterdeck) to watch the guys come back from liberty. Scotland is famous for two things. Good Scotch and friendly people. The ''friendly people'' want you to try their Scotch so it is fairly easy to get totally plastered with little effort on your part. They also love to hear someone from ''down south'' talk. If you have a southern accent they will buy you drinks just to hear you talk. (there is another sea story here but that is for later. It concerns two lovely ladies. nuff said right now) Anyhow, our gangway (access to the ship) went out from the ship to a landing and then down to the pier. The taxies would pull up to the base of the gangway and the sailors would ''ooze'' out and amble up the gangway and ''request permission to come aboard Sir''..... So many of the guys were having trouble climbing the gangway , or even finding it, that they had placed guards on the pier to help these guys ''find the gangway''. As I leaned on the lifeline watching the show a taxi pulled up and a sailor backed out of the rear door of the cab. Obviously, he was drunk as a skunk.. He handed the cabbie some money, kissed a red headed lady good night, and stood there for a few seconds trying to get himself presentable so he might come aboard. He came to attention, straightened his hat, hitched up his tie, brushed off his uniform and turned to come up to the end of the gangway. He was doing real good until he stumped his toe on something on the pier. With that he totally lost his balance, stumbled sideways, tripped on the ''kick rail'' and promptly tumbled into the bay, head first. The guards at the foot of the gangway was on him like a flash. The ''guards'' dropped a lifering over him and the sailor latched on to it like a snake. Three guys dragged him back up on the pier. All the drunk sailor could say was ''' Can you guys find my bottle of Scotch?? I think I dropped it when somebody pushed me off the ship''. They escorted his dripping body up to the quarter deck and escorted him down to his quarters and to bed. So it went onboard the Norton in Scotland...... Seajay the sailor man.....

YOU AINT SEEN NOTHIN' YET BOYS AND GIRLS Just wait a while, maybe 12 months and watch Uncle Sam hit us with a fifty cent per gallon government tax on vehicles that get less than 15 miles per gallon. Uncle knows that we will more than four fifty a gallon for fuel for these monsters and I an sure there is some ''think tank'' that knows this also. Add to that the probable increased cost of a license plate for these toys and another ''fee'' for pulling something behind our coaches. In my opinion somebody out there thinks we are ''rich'' and they are going to ''redistribute the wealth'' our of our pocket. If most of you are like me, I scrimped and saved for over forty years to have this lifestyle and now I really believe that good old Uncle Sam is going to make us pay thru the nose for this lifestyle. I will not even the coming ''Federal Sales Tax'' that will hit us in the near future.... So it goes and so it goes .... Seajay the sailor man GOD BLESS THIS NATION EVEN THOUGH IT IS BROKE..... GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND BRING THEM HOME SOON ...

The Marine guard.... When I went aboard the ''Norton'' I already knew a lot of things about the Navy that my dad had told me. One thing he neglected to tell me was about the BRIG. I guess because he was never in the BRIG and it didn't take long to figure out that I never wanted to be in the Brig.. For you ''civies'' the BRIG is Navy for Jail.... On the Norton the Marines were in charge of the Brig and they were not rally nice guys if you happened to be a prisoner. Here is my story..... I was walking down a passage way (hallway) going aft (toward the back) to buy a carton of ''sea store'' (tax free) smokes. Along this passageway you have hatches (doors) about every 30 feet as I recall. As I walked along I noticed a person coming toward me with BRIG stenciled on his hat, shirt, and pants. Behind him in close order was a Marine guard with a night stick, 45 pistol and helmet. The Marine carried the night stick in his hand the 45 in a holster and the helmet pulled down in front about one finger off the bridge of his nose and I could hardly see his eyes. This prisoner came even with the hatch and stopped placing his right hand on the bulkhead (wall) beside the hatch. ''SIR..... THE PRISONER REQUEST PERMISSION TO PASS THRU ONE HATCH WAY SIR''........... You could have heard this prisoner up on the bow of the ship....... Holly cat stuff........ I plastered myself against the bulkhead.... (wall) ....... ''PRISONER....... I DID NOT HEAR YOU AND I AM SURE THAT ''BOOT'' (new guy) DIDN'T HEAR YOU EITHER...... SPEAK UP PRISONER''.................................. The prisoner repeated his request in a even louder voice and the Marine guard leaned forward and whispered to him that was better and he had permission to pass. I had become part of the paint on the bulkhead and tried to make myself invisible ......... When they passed me I bolted aft like a rabbit that was just shot at. From that moment on I made sure that I did not get caught doing anything that would send me to the BRIG...... So it went on the ''Norton'' a thousand miles from nothin'...... steaming in a circle.... Seajay the sailor man....

Yoooooouooooh Marine. I sent up word to the Big Boss that you were worth saving and making well in the not to distant future. It had been a while since I had talked to him so I had to introduce myself. After that, all went fine. I spoke to Earlene the morning after your surgery and she said you were doing just fine and you had evolved back to your old crankie, ugly, mean self and she felt that you would be ok as long as someone threw a grenade at you occasionally. I sent her some pix of the cane I am working on for you. It is coming along good and I hope to have it to you in a week or so. I feel like I have captured the real ''you'' in the finiel (the top thingie) I looked at your picture and figured out which one was the dog (the handsome one) and which one was you (the ugly on the left) and formed a personal impression as to what I should carve in the top piece of the cane. I have been working on it about all day because it has been raining up here. I got the ''bird, ball, and clanker'' kinda roughed in and I am gonna put your name, rank and USMC on the front . I still got to put some laquer finish on it and make it pretty for you and then mail it to you. Your wife informed me that you were going to get your other knee done in the not to distant future also. Wont be long and you will set off the alarms at an airport when you go thru..... take care my Marine friend and get well soon ........ Seajay the sailor man ... GOD BLESS THIS GREAT NATION GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND BRING THEM HOME SOON GOD BLESS OUR VETS AND KEEP THEM SAFE

Direct dialing in 1961.......... For my last year in service I was stationed at Cheltenham Md. It was a ''nowhere place'' just outside of Washington DC. It was important because it was the main relay for all communications into and out of the east coast of the USA. It was NSS, rapid communications with anywhere in the world at a moments notice, or so they told me. ANYWAY........ sometimes on one watch (eight hours) we would handle about a million individual messages. Sent and or received and we did it all at sixty words per minute on large banks of machines that worked on ''router addresses''. I will not try to explain what ''router addresses'' are because it would take too much time and space. For simplification, it is a way to send a teletype message to a particular place and do it automatically thru machinery that made noise and was hot. The building I worked in was about a city block long and had these ''routers'' almost solid on both walls of the building for the entire length of the building. As I stated above the machines operated at sixty words per minute or sixty, ''five letter'' functions equivalent per minute or 300 characters per minute. This was the speed of the machines and the Navy decided that if they could ''speed up'' these machines they could handle more ''traffic'' in less time. GOOD IDEA.... This is where the fun started ........ Some guys brought down a very large machine that looked like a ''reel to reel'' tape recorder with extra large reels on it. The ''reels'' were about the size of a peach basket and the tape on the reels was some sort of plastic with regular perforated holes in it like our regular paper tape. Between these two giant reels was a ''light sensitive tape reader head'' and a telephone. Three times on each watch we had to call a number on the phone and go thru a procedure to test this monster. Instead of 300 characters per minute this thing would operate at 3000 characters per minute. You called this number I think on the west coast and made your set up. You loaded the tape in the reader and went ''READY, SET, GO'' and when you pushed the ''GO'' button this thing would eat that roll of tape in about thirty seconds. This puppy would HUmmmmmmmmmm as the tape went thru the light sensitive reader head. the biggest problem with the thing was that the reels would sometimes come off the machine and hit the deck doing about four hundred miles per hour. It seemed like several miles of this plastic tape would go flying all over the room and the errant reel would be intent on attaching the opp-orator. We soon learned to push ''GO'' and run and hide behind something large until the test was over. After some messing with the machine we found out that we could call long distance by simply dialing an ''area code'' and dialing the number and we did not have to go thru an opp-orator. HUMMMMMMMMMMMMM......... FREE LONG DISTANCE. Back then the ''area code'' for all of north carolina was 919. You could call any number in NC by dialing 919 and then the number. It didnt take long and we had a line of guys waiting in the passage way to call home on the midnight shift. This is the first time I had ever heard of an AREA CODE and it would only work on this phone on this test machine. We evaluated this monstor for three months and they removed it from the room and we never saw it again ... Word came back that it was too dangerous for the opporaters to use because of the flying reels. Another big problem was that the Navy had nothing that would print the characters at that speed. My understanding was that they copied the ''sounds'' created by the tape head and then translated the sounds to characters or something like that. Anyhow, it didnt work and we got to use free long distance for about three months before they took our toy away .... So it went at NSS outside Washington DC...... Seajay the sailor man ....