Head 'Em Up.. Move 'Em Out!

   Late Thursday afternoon I decided it was time to buy clipless pedals for the bike I bought in California to replace the one that was stolen at Indian Wells RV Resort. As it turned out, I had to buy pedals and replacement cleats for my bike shoes. Gettysburg Bicycle didn't have pedals to match my cleats. After installing the new pedals & cleats and pumping a few lbs. of air into my tires, I donned my riding shorts, shirt and shoes, grabbed my helmet and hit the road. My intention was to ride just a few miles... three or four, to test out the new pedal setup. About a mile up the road from Artillery Ridge Campground is an entrance to Gettysburg National Military Park. As I reached the first monument, and being satisfied with the feel of the new pedals, I decided to ride the entire 10.5 loop around the main portion of the battlefield and back to the campground. I needed the exercise and it was a beautiful afternoon for a ride.

    The previous day we spent a few hours in Old Town Gettysburg having a delicious lunch at The Pub & Restaurant and browsing through Gallery 30, a really cool art store selling, among other things, elaborately decorated gourds.

   After leaving Gallery 30 Suzanne checked out a gift shop while I investigated the local cigar shop. Neither of us found anything worth purchasing.

   This morning, before departing Artillery Ridge and heading for our next destination, Lancaster, PA, we drove back into Old Town for breakfast at One Lincoln, a great little restaurant on the traffic circle with sidewalk seating.
   Upon check-in at Artillery Ridge we were given free passes to a couple Gettysburg attractions, one of which was the Gettysburg Diorama. So after breakfast, before returning to A.R. to prepare the coach for departure, we redeemed our free diorama pass. We were the only people in the theater and therefore had no problem securing the best seats in the house. It was really quite an impressive (and huge!) model of the battlefield and explained the events leading up to the battle, and the battle itself, leaving us with a better understanding of just what went down July 1-3, 1863.

   We pulled out of A.R. Campground at 1:00pm following Rt.30 northeast and arriving at Old Mill Stream Campground in Lancaster, PA  a little after 3:00pm. Google maps said it would take only 1 hour and 23 minutes.
   Wrong.

   Site #608 is a 'back-in'. However, backing in would have put our plumbing and electric hookups on the wrong side of the coach so we opted, instead, to drive in. The entrance into the site is pretty steeply pitched and I was just a little nervous about the maneuver. I could see the coach was going to list heavily to port and there was the possibility of bottoming out, so I had Suzanne spotting me outside with her walkie-talkie. It all went off without a hitch and we were set up and walking the dogs within half an hour.  These pictures look pretty tame but believe me, I've wiggled this thing into all sorts of funky parking spaces - this was unlike anything I've ever done before.

  Travis & Winnie waiting patiently to go for a walk while we get set up...

   Burgers and salad were on tonight's menu.

  Thanks for checking out the blog!

On We Go!

  We pulled out of ORC at precisely 11:05 this morning turning northeast on SR-340, stopping a couple miles up the road just long enough for me to top off the fuel tank while Suzanne ran (walked briskly) across the street to McDonald's to fetch a couple breakfast burritos. I was only down a quarter of a tank but $3.05 is about as cheap as I've seen diesel fuel in these parts and - why not top off? Besides - we were hungry!
   Outlander's River Camp is our favorite place to camp in the Shenandoah and we're always a little sad come departure time. This time, however, it rained five of the seven days we were there and we were both a bit anxious to haul anchor and move on to our next destination, Gettysburg, PA.
   We've been to Gettysburg several times over the years. My first visit was as a pre-teen with my family on Summer vacation. Suzanne made the same pilgrimage with her parents.
   We lived in New Jersey from 1987 to 1992 and again from 1996 thru 2008, during which time we made three or four camping trips to Gettysburg. My son, Aaron had an interest in history from a very young age and particularly enjoyed our Gettysburg outings. My daughter, Allie...eh. She enjoyed the horseback riding, hay rides, campfires, s'mores etc. Later on, as a junior or senior in high school, Aaron attended some sort of Gettysburg/Civil War Summer camp. He now conducts occasional tours of the battlefield when his busy D.C. tour business permits.
   The majority of today's journey was spent on SR-340 NE changing over to SR- 15N in Frederick, Maryland.  It was a very pleasant ride through the Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland countryside, crossing the Shenandoah twice and the Potomac at Harpers Ferry. It took us about 3.5 hours to compete the 125 mile drive.

   Our site at Artillery Ridge Campground is a pull-thru. However, as is often the case, there just wasn't quite enough room to negotiate the turn in. Additionally, the site's picnic table was smack dab in the middle of my drive path so I set the air brakes, disconnected the Traverse from the coach and dragged the picnic table to the side. Suzanne hopped in the Traverse and I made my way back to the coach where these guys... 

   ... were waiting patiently.

Leveled, connected to shore power & plumbing, slides and awnings deployed

   Artillery Ridge participates in the Passport America program. As members, our nightly fee is only $30 instead of the $60 non-member rate. Sweet!

   I just recently began breaking in a new pair of gloves. I have two pairs of gloves in the coach. One I use when pumping diesel fuel and the other (these) are for connecting and disconnecting the car to/from the coach. The old pair have not yet given up the ghost, but it's just a matter of time. When they do, the new pair should be ready for service. 

    Suzanne has a light work day tomorrow so we'll be able to do some Gettysburg stuff. I'll go for a run while she's on a couple of morning conference calls.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

One More Night On The Shenandoah

  Not a whole lot to report from Outlander River Camp. We arrived here last Tuesday. It rained Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It wasn't a constant rain, but steady and heavy enough to thoroughly saturate the ground here at ORC. There is a depression in the ground just outside the door of the coach that filled with a couple inches of water - avoidance of which necessitated a sizable stride off the bottom step. The problem could have been avoided if I had only parked the coach two feet forward or backward of where I dropped anchor. Oh well. The weather for the past two days has been very nice, a little humid, but precipitation-free and in the 80 degree range. 

The Massanutten Mountains to the west

   In my last post I wrote about a 45' Entegra coach getting stuck in the mud while attempting a wide turn, from the wrong direction, down the 'pull-thru' aisle here at ORC. While I wasn't able to get a picture of the bogged down behemoth, I did take a shot of the resulting ruts...

   One of those monster tow trucks made quick work of extricating the mired motorcoach from the sodden fescue.

   Oh, Ourisman Chevrolet had neglected to perform an emissions test on the Traverse before sending me on my way. I was notified of the oversight and advised to have it inspected so they could complete the registration process and send me new stickers for my plates (tags). I had the inspection done on Saturday 5/12 and was told by Ourisman  they would send me the registration Tuesday morning. This Saturday, 5/19, assuming it had been delivered and wanting to retrieve it before continuing our journey northward (my registration expires at the end of this month) we loaded the dogs in the car and made the 81 mile trek to the Herndon post office (we put a stop on mail delivery before leaving last week) only to discover my registration hadn't yet been delivered. Imagine my disappointment. I called the dealership but the person with whom I needed to speak was off for the weekend. 

  Great.

   I'll have to ask my daughter to make a trip from her place in Maryland to the Herndon, Va. post office sometime in the next week or so and forward our mail to Massachusetts.

   As I write this there is only one other occupied RV in the park - a couple in a fifth wheel trailer about 100' from where we're parked. There were probably a dozen other rigs of various sizes and varieties that came in for the weekend, the last of which rolled out around 11:00 this morning.

   Having not made it to the gym before the 4:00pm Sunday closing, I instead logged 3 miles on the gravel roads here at ORC then showered and grilled a couple rib eye steaks to accompany the salad Suzanne had made. After supper we sat outside watching TV, sipping cocktails (a margarita for Suzanne, scotch & a cigar for me) and enjoying the beautiful sunset. 

   This morning I decided to try out a new foam polishing drill attachment I bought at Advance Auto last week. 

...and was happy with the results.

Only five more wheels to go

   I took a break from wheel polishing to toss a load of laundry in the washer but when I pushed the start button, nothing happened. My first thought was that perhaps the circuit breaker for the washer had been tripped - but it hadn't been. There are three electrical outlets inside the master bath vanity beside the washer and dryer. One is for the washer, one for the dryer and I'm not sure what the third one is for. I unplugged the washer and dryer and plugged the washer into the dryer outlet. It worked! When the wash cycle ended I plugged the dryer into the washer outlet and IT worked as well. I guess the washer just needed a 'hard reboot'. 

   Time to head for the gym for my last FREE workout. We haul anchor and head for Gettysburg, Pa. tomorrow morning.

Thanks for reading the blog!

   

   

   

   

Today's Lesson: Don't Take 45,000 lb Coaches Off-Road

   Grey skies and occasional rain continue here at Outlander River Camp on the Shenandoah in Page Valley. There's a low spot just outside our front door which makes taking the dogs out for potty breaks not a whole lot of fun after a rainy spell.  I've been keeping Travis on his leash when we go for walks. He's used to running free here and we usually take long walks down along the river but I've been finding ticks crawling on him (and one on me) after our morning games of fetch. I even found one on Winnie after a brief outing. I know people who've had long lasting issues as a result of tick bites. I may be a little paranoid, but we're gonna restrict our grassy area activities for the next few days.

      Winnie had an 'accident' on the bedspread last night before going in her bed for the night. The washer and dryer in the coach don't have a large enough capacity to handle a blanket so I popped it in a commercial-size washer at the local laundromat before going to the gym this afternoon. It's been quite a while since I've been in a laundromat. I thought it only cost like $.75 to do a load of wash. Nope... $3.00!

   Speaking of gyms...

   Since it was raining yesterday I decided to check out a local gym I've been curious about since we first started coming out here. The PMH Fitness and Wellness Center, located near downtown Luray, has an unassuming facade and shares an interior wall with the grocery store in which Suzanne and I found a package labeled "Miscellaneous Meat" during a camping excursion last Summer. My expectations were low but I was pleasantly surprised to see a clean, spacious, well equipped facility. They even have towels! I left Gold's Gym in Herndon a year or so ago when Allie moved in and talked me into joining the nicer, better equipped (and more expensive) Worldgate Sport & Health. One thing I like about Worldgate as compared with Gold's is their limitless supply of towels. It takes three to get me through my workout.

   "How much for a day pass?"

   "Five dollars."

 I was surprised. My gym charges $20 for a day pass.

   "I'm here for a week. How much for a week pass?"

   "Fifteen dollars"

 I got my wallet out and handed the guy a $20 bill. I'm guessing he didn't have a five to give me for change...

   "Hmm... you said this is your first time here?"

   "Yep."

   "And you're here for a week?"

   "Uh huh"

   "You can work out for the week for free."

   PMH Fitness and Wellness Center, my new favorite gym in the Shenandoah Valley...

   A guy came into the park tonight in a big Entegra motorhome. He accidentally bypassed the turn for the pull-thru sites, circled around past the front of our coach and attempted to make the turn down the pull-thru aisle from the opposite direction. The turn into the pull-thru aisle is possible only while entering the park - not while exiting. What he should have done was driven out to the large parking area in front of the office, made a 3 point U-turn and re-entered the park. Instead, he made a wide turn from the wrong direction straying well off the gravel road and onto rain-soaked grass burying the front wheels to the bumper. Bonehead move. I walked over to see if I could be of any help  and suggested we put blocks under the front jacks and lift the front end up far enough to get blocks under the tires - but he said, with his coach, the air has to be purged from the system before the jacks can be lowered. Since the chassis was already pretty much bottomed out, that wouldn't have been a good idea. The jacks in my coach can be lowered without purging the air. Anyway, a big-ass tow truck was summoned and within a few minutes he was out of the mud and heading for his site. Happy ending. I made chicken fajitas and went back out to take a picture.. but was too late.

   

Winnie being a good girl

   I've made reservations at two RV parks - one just outside of Gettysburg and another in Lancaster, PA where we will spend Memorial Day weekend. I called five other parks before finally finding an available spot in Lancaster. Memorial Day weekend is kind of a big deal in the camping community and reservations are made well in advance.

   We've had Outlander River Park pretty much to ourselves for the past couple of days but the weekenders are beginning to roll in. 

   Looks like more rain Friday and Saturday. Wonderful.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

Back In Business!

  It's been a few weeks (I think about six) since we were last out in the coach. The main reason for the moratorium being that our 'toad' vehicle, my little 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara, was in a bad way. I had replaced the worn out tie rods and front CV axles, but a whining noise had developed in the rear end. It was getting progressively more noticeable and one day, after returning home from a drive to Alexandria, I got out and knelt behind the car to feel the differential. It was too hot to touch. The next day we traded in the Suzuki for a 2012 Chevy Traverse I had found online at Ourisman Chevrolet of Alexandria. It only had 29k miles on it and I paid well under the Kelley Blue Book valuation. Not all vehicles can be towed 'four down'. The Chevy Traverse is one that can be, and it's the vehicle I was most interested in.  I had read good things about it and wanted something a little bigger and maybe just a tad more luxurious than the Suzuki. Travis needs a little more space in which to stretch out.
   The Blue Ox towing system I have requires the installation of a 'base plate' on the vehicle being towed. The base plates are vehicle specific so I couldn't simply remove the old one from the Suzuki and install it on the Traverse. I had to buy a new one along with a new installation kit for the Air Force One braking system I would be transferring from the old car to the new along with a Hopkins wiring harness to be installed in the Traverse allowing the rear lights, brake lights and turn signals to work off the coaches lights. The ordering and installation of all this stuff took time - especially the base plate installation. It was more involved than the Suzuki installation had been, requiring two sections of frame rail to be cut out. That was just a bit intimidating. I had actually forgotten I would need a wiring harness and didn't think to order it until after having completed the base plate and brake system installs. The harness was back ordered, further delaying completion of the job.
   The harness arrived last Friday and I finished everything up Monday afternoon.
   So we're back out on the road! My nephew, Nick, is getting married June 9 in Massachusetts. We thought it might be fun to head out a little early - spend some time in the Shenandoah then up into Pennsylvania (maybe Gettysburg) eventually arriving in central Massachusetts in time for the nuptials.  My mom, sister and brothers live in the area and I haven't seen them in almost a year, so we're looking forward to getting back together with family. After the wedding we may head up into New Hampshire and Maine. I have a hankerin' for various steamed and fried crustaceans and mollusks.
   I had my fingers crossed as we attached the Traverse to the coach for the first time at the storage facility in Manassas. I had wired the 'six round' receptacle on the car according to the industry standard, knowing not all RV manufacturers adhere to that standard. Luckily everything worked as it should and we were off and running ...with lights, brakes and ev-uh-thin!!

All hooked up and ready to roll! 

(And a nice color match - don't you think?)

View of the Traverse in the rear view monitor

   The forecast was not favorable for the drive out to Luray Tuesday evening. We had had some pretty severe weather the night before, complete with tornado warnings and no-nonsense National Weather Service cell phone admonitions to head for your basement - which we did. 

  I had washed the coach a few days earlier and was hoping for a precipitation-free run to the Shenandoah. But it was not to be. The good news is that the roads had been washed fairly clean by the previous day's downpour. The coach looks...okay.

   Winnie settled in beside Suzanne and slept for the entire trip. I have a feeling she's gonna be just fine with this nomadic lifestyle.

   This morning we did some grocery shopping at the Luray Walmart Supercenter and took Winnie for her first shopping cart ride. She seemed to enjoy the experience!

   Monday was Suzanne's birthday. Here she is at her workstation in the coach behind the bouquet of roses she got from Allie and Andy...

   It's overcast now and the forecast is calling for rain for the next few days. I have several projects I'd like to complete before rolling out of here next Tuesday morning. With a little cooperation from mother nature, maybe I won't get soaked in the process.

Thanks for checking out the blog.

Creepy Little Bunnies and a Shocking Discovery!

   

   On Saturdays and Sundays there is a HUGE (silent 'H') flea market in Lexington, South Carolina, the 'suburb' of Columbia where we spent last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights. Actually, there are a couple of huge flea markets in Lexington, but one of them is adjacent to The Barnyard RV Park. There are rows of long, open ended buildings inside which vendors ply all sorts of useless junk. Given our close proximity and with plenty of time left to complete our journey home (We don't have to be home until Saturday, April 7th when Allie, her maid of honor, Suzanne and Andy's mom and sister will be spending the afternoon perusing bridal gowns) we stuck around an extra night (Friday) and spent a couple hours making our way up and down row upon row of other people's crap. To be fair, there were a few things I found interesting - a banjo I probably could have had some fun plunking on, tools, artists displaying their work, barnyard fowl. 

   Neither of us found anything we couldn't live without.

   Travis and I did, however, find a tiny stuffed Easter Bunny during our morning constitutional. I cleaned it up a little and zip-tied it to the grab bar beside Suzanne's seat in the coach.

Our somewhat evil looking Easter Bunny

   When we arrived in Lexington on Wednesday, I spotted this gas station with diesel fuel at $2.64 a gallon. I'm always looking for low diesel fuel prices and $2.64 was several cents lower than any other price I had seen in town. As the station did not have a truck/RV section, the day before our departure we swung in on our way home from lunch to make sure I'd be able to negotiate the turns in and out. Anticipating having to back up in order to get close to the pump, on the afternoon of our departure I left the car disconnected from the coach and Suzanne followed me to the gas station. 

   Truck stops have high volume pumps that greatly reduce the amount of time it takes to fill a 150 gallon tank. This, however, was a standard pump - and even though I was only half empty, it took quite a while to pump 74 gallons of fuel. There was a wide, cul de sac separating the gas station from a couple of fast food joints - the big, circular end of which allowed plenty of room to turn the coach around. After getting pointed in the right direction, I attached the car while Suzanne ran into Bojangles to get us a couple of breakfast sandwiches.  

Kind of a tight squeeze. But for $2.64/gal, it was worth the effort

   We had about 230 miles to travel in order to reach Fort Chiswell, Virginia, our destination for the day. We've stayed at Fort Chiswell RV Park maybe five times over the past few years. Two hundred eighty five miles from our home in Herndon, Va, and at the junction of I-81 & I-77, it's a great first night stop for all destinations south or west. 

   We arrived late afternoon, set up, ate some leftovers and spent a quiet, uneventful night back in our home state of Virginia. Having spent the first night of our trip here back on December 1st, we had come full circle.

   Sunday morning we left Fort Chiswell destined for one of our favorite places on the planet, the Shenandoah Valley - specifically, Luray, Virginia. We had only two hundred miles to travel and with plenty of fuel in the tank, we didn't have to stop fer nuthin'. Not far out of Fort Chiswell begins a steep, steady climb culminating around Christiansburg (elevation: 2,133'). The 450 Cummins had us chugging up and over the Blue Ridge in fine fashion.

   We exited I-81 in New Market, Va. At this point one must climb up and over "The Gap" in the Massanutten to reach Luray, which lies nestled between the Massanutten and the Blue Ridge in the Page Valley.

Climbing through 'The Gap'

And down into Page Valley

Our home for the next three nights

   So... 

   We've had this coach for two years and I just made a really cool discovery! 

   There is an 'L' shaped sofa in the living room area that, with the touch of a button, folds down into a bed. It's comfortable enough for one person. For two people... it's a little cramped. But Aaron and Molly spent a couple of nights on it during our trip to Williamsburg last fall and didn't complain. 

The sofa in the upright position...

... and in the down position.

   As you can see, the person sleeping on the outside has plenty of headroom. The person on the inside (against the wall)... not so much.

Look what I found while searching for a good spot for a new subwoofer for the in-dash entertainment system!... 

   There's an awesome feature of this sofa that we were completely unaware of! 

   Grab the release handle under the seat and out pops an extension that makes the bed into something much bigger and WAY more comfortable!

   Now your head goes against the wall and both people have plenty of room! Duh!

   AND...

   With the sofa in the upright position, the 'extension' becomes a footrest! For additional comfort, you can recline the sofa to whatever position you want.

   I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't know about this feature. Judging from the amount of dust and dirt underneath, I'm not sure the previous owner did either.

   I think we'll watch a movie tonight from the comfort of our newly discovered lounge!

Thanks for reading the blog!

Preparing For Re-Entry

   My last blog ended with us having decided to spend an additional night (Tuesday) at The Woods RV Park in Montgomery, Alabama. We had been to Russell's Truck Repair Monday morning where they diagnosed the problem with the driver's side front brake and ordered the part, to be shipped overnight from Seattle. We had a 10:30am appointment back at Russell's Tuesday morning to have the part installed. We readied the coach for departure and the 4.5 mile drive to Russell's. However, when I pushed the button to retract the passenger side slide, nothing happened. It's not uncommon for a slide not to respond when the button is pushed - it happens. There are two electronically synchronized motors on either end of the two big forward slides and if the circuitry senses something is even a little out of whack, it asks to be reset.  One thing it doesn't seem to like is when the extend/retract button is held too long after movement has stopped. Whenever this happens there's a red fault light that blinks to let you know there was a problem, making it necessary to walk to the front of the coach, push and reset the coach battery disconnect switch. This clears the fault and makes it possible to extend or retract the slide.
This time, however, there was no blinking red light, no clicks... no nuthin!
   When the slides are retracted they need to be locked before travel. Each slide has its own extend/retract & lock/unlock buttons. After about forty five minutes of trouble shooting I figured out that Suzanne (I'll blame it on her) had inadvertently locked the slide in the out position. When the lock is engaged, and the slide is in the out position, it apparently renders that slide completely unresponsive - not even triggering a fault light. To further complicate matters, the slide lock seems to react badly to being engaged when the slide is in the out position. It wouldn't unlock. I had Suzanne pushing the lock/unlock button back and forth while I walked around outside and inside the coach, with my ear against the walls, trying to find exactly where the mechanism was located. I finally found it behind a removable panel inside one of the upper interior cabinets. With a pair of vice grips I worked the motor's shaft back and forth a few times, tapped the shaft shear pin in a bit (it looked like it had worked its way out a little) and asked Suzanne to push the retract button and... Voila! The slide retracted!
   By this time it was 11am, thirty minutes past our Russell Truck Repair appointment time. I called Russell and was told that they had the part, I should come at 2pm and they'd get 'er done. We were in their parking lot at 1:55pm. I watched as the mechanic installed the air chamber, asking a few questions along the way so that I can do the job myself next time (hopefully there won't be a next time). $560.00 later we were exiting the parking lot and motoring down the road. It was only 3:30pm, still relatively early in the day - and even though we had ponied up $31 for an other night at The Woods, we decided to put a couple hundred miles behind us and head for Fort Valley, Georgia.

***

   The proprietor of Ponderosa RV Park had just closed the office and was climbing into his golf cart as we pulled off SR96 and into the park entrance. He dismounted and stepped aboard the coach. After listening to his life story (he had just tucked Mama into bed) we paid him in cash and were escorted to our site.
   Wednesday morning we left Fort Valley making our way northeast on SR49, crossing the South Carolina state line after passing through Augusta. Ironically, we ended our day at The Barnyard RV Park in Columbia, South Carolina. I say ironically because this is where we had planned to see the total solar eclipse last August before having to abandon that plan due to an improperly installed engine seal.
   But let's not go there.
   For supper, our first night in town, we sampled some local Mexican fare at San Jose. The food was delicious. Their margaritas were served in large, frosted terracotta mugs and were equally delicious! Thursday I worked around the coach on a few odd jobs while Suzanne worked at her desk. I took a late afternoon run and a shower then we sat outside and watched a little TV until it got too chilly. I cooked supper in the coach, mixed up a batch of margaritas and that was about it for Thursday.
   There is no dog park here at The Barnyard but, this morning Travis and I found a perfect spot to play ball on a grassy area just outside the park fence. Afterward, I did a little light grocery shopping at the IGA around the corner. Suzanne finished up work at around 1pm and we took a ride into Lexington to visit the Lexington County Museum, a collection of buildings and artifacts from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries - then to lunch at Hudson's Smoke House for some South Carolina BBQ. Suzanne had barbecue pork and I had the catfish. Both were very tasty - as was my side of collard greens! I have to find a good recipe.

Lexington County Museum

   One of the cool things about traveling around the country is getting to sample the regional cuisine. Every part of the country has its unique foods, recipes, combinations of foods and flavors for which they're famous. We've really enjoyed all the different dining experiences we've had over the past four months on the road.
   We have a reservation at Fort Chiswell RV Park in Wytheville, VA for tomorrow night then three nights at one of our favorite spots in the Shenandoah Valley, Outlander River Camp in Luray, VA before arriving home on Wednesday.
  We're both feeling a little sad knowing our journey will soon be coming to an end. The next several months will be spent downsizing and preparing the townhouse for lease or sale. We've taken extended trips in the coach before but this was by far our longest outing. Spending four very enjoyable months on the road has convinced us that we want to try the full-time-nomadic lifestyle for a few years. We'll probably, in a couple years,  end up buying a small place, maybe somewhere in the Shenandoah, to land from time to time - but we really enjoy traveling around the country in this thing - and all the wonderful experiences we have along the way.
 It feels like home.

Thanks for reading the blog!

Them's The Brakes!

   Our destination for Saturday was Meridian, Mississippi. Having spent Friday night in Shreveport, LA and wanting to be in Charleston, SC for an extended stay (maybe 3 or 4 days) by Tuesday the 27th, our plan was to log three 300 mile days. Charleston is nine hundred miles from Shreveport. 300 + 300 + 300 = 900. Savvy? Clarke Hockwald, a full-time RVer whose blog I've been reading for a few years now, often comments that their plans are 'set in Jell-O' - a reference to the serendipitous, unpredictable nature of the full-timer life style. Absent the need to be in a particular location at a particular time - when interesting, unforeseen and appealing opportunities present themselves, you're free to go for it... or not.
   Well, we were hoping to be in Charleston by Tuesday but...
   We didn't have to be in Charleston by Tuesday.
   As we neared the Louisiana/Mississippi border we saw a sign for Vicksburg. Both Suzanne and I are interested in American history, especially if it has anything to do with the Civil War. My son, Aaron is a history nerd and has an encyclopedic knowledge of practically anything to do with American history - in particular, the American Civil War.
   As a sideline, Aaron narrates audiobooks (I'm the recording "engineer"). One of the books we recorded last year is titled The Civil War on the Mississippi  (you can listen to a sample and/or download it by clicking on the title/link). It deals extensively with the siege of Vicksburg and the battle for control of the Mississippi River. Vicksburg has been on my to-do list for a while, especially since recording the book!
   So... we saw a sign for Vicksburg!

   "I didn't realize we'd be going through Vicksburg!", I said.
   "Yep.", said Suzanne.

    Change of plans.

   Suzanne quickly got online in search of an RV park in the Vicksburg area and found the perfect spot - a 'resort' owned and operated by the Ameristar Casino in Vicksburg. It was a very nice park -inexpensive, well maintained, yards from the Mississippi River and just minutes from the Vicksburg Battlefield National Park. After checking in, setting up and playing some ball with Travis, we hopped in the car and headed for the National Park. We watched the orientation movie, wandered around the museum, bought a magnet in the gift shop then, back in the car, dialed up the cell phone audio tour and headed down the "tour road".
   It was a fascinating drive. The highlight for me was the USS Cairo - an Ironclad warship built during the Civil War and sunk in the Yazoo River on December 12, 1862. . It was discovered in 1956 and much of it, preserved by the Yazoo River mud, was recovered in the 1960s.
   The Cairo holds somewhat of a special meaning for me. While narrating the aforementioned book, Aaron pronounce Cairo as Ki-Row, as in Cairo, Egypt. Come to find out (after having completed the recording of the entire book) it is actually pronounced Kay-Row, as in.... well... as in who knows what. Who the hell ever heard of pronouncing Cairo as Kay-Row? Anyway, as the word Cairo had appeared like a gazillion times throughout the book, it was a very time consuming process editing out the wrong pronunciation and punching in the new one.
   Po-tay-tow, po-tah-tow.

USS Cairo

   We called Aaron to tell him what we were up to and he informed us that while in Vicksburg, one must eat tamales. I'm not sure how this tradition came about but hey, I like tamales!

Tamales to go at Tamale Place

   We took our tamales back to the coach where they were promptly devoured...

    After dinner we took a ride over to the casino to take a peek. It's a pretty cool casino, built to look like a paddle wheel river boat, right on the eastern bank (and out into the water) of the mighty Mississippi.

   The following morning, wanting to make up for the previous day's mileage deficit, we struck out bright and early for Montgomery, Alabama - 288 miles due east of Vicksburg.

   About thirty miles from the Alabama state line we passed this exit sign...

Chunky, Mississippi

   ... and into Alabama...

   In Cuba, AL we changed from I-20 to SR-80, a nice, smoothly paved, designated scenic byway through central Alabama. We passed through the center of Selma, following the path of the famous  1965 Selma to Montgomery March. 

   

   About fifteen miles east of Selma something bad happened.

***

   All of a sudden I smelled the unmistakable smell of burning brake pads. I immediately pulled to the side of the road, got out, laser temperature gun in hand and discovered that the drivers side front hub temp was in the neighborhood of 150 degrees - which is pretty doggone hot for a drivers side front hub - or any hub, for that matter. I called and consulted with the family heavy truck expert, my nephew Nick. Nick has been driving and working on big rigs for quite a while. This isn't the first time I've had to call Nick for roadside advice. I described what had happened and he pretty much nailed the diagnosis. He also suggested a couple of things I could do to get back on the road but, not having the proper tools and knowing AAA (I have the RV card) would tow me to a garage of my choice, I figured I'd better leave well enough alone.  

   With an aversion to hanging out on the shoulder of a 70mph (although relatively lightly traveled) highway and knowing, by way of Google, there was a Citgo station 1.5 miles further up the road, I creeped along the shoulder at 5mph to the gas station's large gravel parking lot. Once again, I got out to check the status of the offending wheel. It was literally sizzling. I could hear it. We sat, gathering our thoughts for a few minutes. I knew we would have to be towed but had to decide if it was wiser to return to Selma, which was fifteen miles behind us, or continue on to Montgomery, thirty five miles further east. Having determined that Montgomery was a larger city with a greater number of possible repair facilities, we opted for Montgomery. I began searching for and making calls to truck repair shops. It being a Sunday, all I got were voicemails. Finally, a real live person answered at Russell Truck Center! Cliff assured me they could make the necessary repair and that I should have the coach towed to his shop. 

   I called AAA. About five hours and several phone conversations with AAA and the towing service later (Ugh!), a technician arrived. Rather than towing the coach, the technician removed both front wheels, backed the pads off the rotors with an adjustment screw, removed the air lines to both calipers and inserted a ground-down dime (yep) in each fitting, replaced the lines and I was good to go...

... without front brakes.

The Tow Service Guy

   I still had rear brakes, of course, and the engine brake, so I had plenty of stopping power. 

   I guess it was around 6pm when we finally got back on the road. Feeling like we deserved an evening of leisure and recovery from the day's events, Suzanne had made a reservation at The Woods RV Park in Montgomery. The option was to spend the night in Russell's Truck Repair parking lot. Nope.

   A bad air brake chamber...

   We spent a restful evening of cocktails and television and at 7:30am the next morning drove 4.5 miles up the road to Russell's where a tech removed the wheel, diagnosed the problem (confirming Nick's assessment) and ordered the part. It'll be here tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 10:30.

   We checked back into Wood's RV Park for another night. 

   Oh! I forgot to post this picture after my Dealey Plaza tour last week... from the gift shop at the book depository. When was the last time you saw these?! 

   Thanks for checking out the blog!