McKinney Update 2

Today was a productive day. Brian, the installer, arrived a little after 9am. Nancy had cleared the access to the bedroom windows and Brian removed the old shades and installed the new ones. He installed the two shades next to our captains chairs and then started the electrical wiring for the 3 shades on the driver's side. This involved prying up the false bottoms to our overhead cabinets, drilling a hole from one to the other and also through the bottom of each cabinet and thru the valence for the power wires. Also fishing a wire from the cabinets to the area behind the refrigerator where we had an unused electric receptacle to provide the power. I noticed some small holes in one shade that got thru QC, so that one had to be taken back for mitigation. When that was done, he installed the 3 shades and tested that the remote control worked, replaced the bottom panels in the cabinets,and that was it for the day.

In the meantime, Nancy and I cleaned the outside of all the windows in the RV. When Brian left, we replaced everything back in the cabinets and on the sofa (they had to be cleared off to provide Brian working room), then removed everything from the sofa and cabinets on the passenger side so the same process can be repeated tomorrow, in addition to installing the new windshield shades. When that is done, Brian will set the limits for each shade. The limits establish where each shade will automatically stop when raising and lowering it. Each one is different due to the size of each window. Then Nancy and I will have to repack each cabinet and the sofa before we are finished. We finished the driver's side tonight at 9 pm, so you see we have another long day tomorrow. 

The day shades are a tighter weave than our old shades, so it will be harder for someone to see inside from the outside without affecting our ability to see outside.  The night shades completely block outside light making the bedroom very dark. We are very happy with the results so far.

Saturday morning we will hookup and depart for Amarillo, Tx, which will be a loooong  drive. We had to tell Marjorie and mom we would not be at their Thanksgiving table next week. I am glad they, and our niece Jenn, enjoyed the past 3 days at the beach at Port Aransas.

McKinley Update 1

Yesterday, while waiting for updates on our shades, Nancy hemmed some curtains that were too long and dragging on the floor while I cleaned the bugs that had smashed on the hood and windshield as we traveled here. Fun times! Then they came to remove the windshield shades to begin work on them. We removed everything out of our overhead cabinets so he could check how to do the wiring for the side shades. Later, we went to a small Italian restaurant nearby where Nancy had baked ziti and I had chicken albanese, a pasta dish with mushrooms, spaghetti and a chicken breast in a creamy brandy sauce. Delicious! And it cost less than a meal for two at chik-fil-a.

Today the installer came and told us they were remaking the shades as the QC folks found the first ones made were the incorrect size. We took the dogs to a self service dog wash where we bathed both dogs. This place apparently had a small extra room where they threw in two wash tubs. No choice of soap, and they had a POWER dryer for drying the dogs. No kidding, it blew Cocoa off the table. We stopped using it right away. I could literally fill the rv tires with it, it was that strong!

We got back and the installer came by to tell us they were on their third iteration of the windshield shades for some reason, and the motors on them had to be replaced due to changes in regulations so that when the ignition is on, the shades can only be lowered so far. Then he and I began running wire on the driver's side cabinets in preparation for installation of the motorized shades, which will probably take place on Friday. The passenger side wiring will begin at 8:30 tomorrow morning. We are expecting that the non-motorized shades in the bedroom will take place tomorrow.

Tonight we had pizza from the Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakery which is located in a section of town which looks like a more modern West Chester downtown. Have to say they know how to cook in this town.

MCD Starting the Work

Brian and Candace (names sound familiar? Ironic?) came in this morning to see what we wanted done with our window shades. We are replacing ALL the shades in the RV. The shades in the bedroom will remain manual while those in the front will be automatic. We will be able to open or close them in any configuration we desire, one- by- one,  all at once, the day shades or night shades, etc.

We gave them our fabric choices and they measured each window.  We are also replacing the material on the windshield that Cocoa chewed this summer when he got on the dash and wanted to look out. They're going to look so nice. 

After the measurements we waited about an hour for them to price out the materials, then we went over to the office and paid for them. The new shades will be ready on Thursday and they will be installed Thursday and Friday. Then we will have to pay separately for the installation labor. We will stay Friday night,  then move to our next campground. 

We also thought we were done with the stink-bugs, but wow were we wrong! Here is a picture of the two bags (!) of them we've been catching. Hopefully there aren't many left. And we've caught 2 dozen more since the picture was taken!

McKinney, Texas

We departed North Little Rock this morning at 8:25 CST. Clear skies, no wind or rain,  but construction in many places along our route. Stopped for fuel and breakfast at 11:00 CST. Arrived in McKinney at 2:15 pm, 330 miles later. 

We are situated in a parking lot for the week while they replace our window shades starting at 8am tomorrow. We have electricity only,  no sewer or running water all week. I wonder how bad we'll smell by the end of the week?

We started to set up here and first thing,  the levellers errored again. Got them working correctly about 45 minutes later. We finished setting up,  relaxed for about an hour, then went looking for somewhere for dinner. We stopped at Hutchin's BBQ. Phenomenal food! Only a few people in line, but when we left they were lined up out the door. The parking lot was filled and cars were lined up down the street to get in. Their food is better than Tony Gore's in Tennessee. 

We are now rewatching Yellowstone,  and waiting for the newest episode to begin.

North Little Rock, Arkansas

Looking at these blogs, I've come to the realization that I suck at creating the titles (probably the blogs, too!).

We left Nashville this morning at 8:14 am CST. We stopped at 10:30 to fill up and have our RV weighed. Wow, are we overweight! We need to toss out more stuff. But now I know what our tire pressures should be. They were  overfilled, also.

It was another bright, sunny day for travelling. We picked up some wind in Arkansas, but nothing too bad. We arrived here at 2:45 pm CST and all went well until... wait for it... our levellers wouldn't extend. We had a fault on the passenger rear. I tried all I could think of, and... the fault cleared on that leveller but appeared on another.

I called the leveller company and they had me do a series of tests, then declared they couldn't help and to call a mobile repair service. We called four and each was booked thru the end of the month. Our fifth call and we got someone who said he would be out within the hour. 

In the meanwhile, we sat around til around 4:15, and then after playing around for a while with no success, I crawled under the RV to the offending leveller and using my drill and sockets, extended it a 1/2-inch. I then retracted all at the control panel, and voila! No errors! I then chose an auto extend to move all the levellers down at once and again, they worked as designed. I called the mobile tech who was already on his way, told him what I did and that the problem was fixed. I offered to pay for his time, but he insisted otherwise.

Our site at the campground is a heads-in, meaning our front window overlooks the Arkansas River. A beautiful view! I'll take a picture and post it tomorrow.

A Time for Thanks in Nashville

Two weeks ago we were in the Elmer Diner in New Jersey when our waitress handed us a handwritten note that read something like "Thank you for your military service. Awhile ago someone paid for my meal and now I am paying it forward." We never knew who did it, but we were grateful. We decided then that we would do the same.

Today at brunch we saw several Vietnam Vets and we thanked them for their service. We chose one couple, wrote those same words on a card, and did the same for them.

Tonight at dinner when we went to pay our bill, a young lady came up to us, thanked me for my service, and informed us the bill was already paid. We never expected this either time. There are just some wonderful, good-hearted people in this world.

Tomorrow morning we head to North Little Rock, Arkansas.

Nashville, TN

 We awoke at 7:30 am and left Sevierville at 8:30 am. A beautiful day for travel; sunny, no rain, no wind, and little traffic. While travelling thru Knoxville, Tn, we stopped at Blue Beacon and had our vehicles, the RV and the Equinox, washed and RainX'ed. Love that company. It cost less than $1 per foot to wash the RV. Both vehicles look gorgeous now.

With the change to Central Time, we arrived at our Nashville campground at 12:00 pm. Temperature in the mid-60s. After setting up and speaking to the neighbors for a 1/2 hour, we went for lunch at Bob Evans. Delicious food, better than Cracker Barrel. We will probably go back again before we leave on Tuesday morning for Little Rock, Arkansas.

During the trip a cover on our passenger slide-out which covers the slide gear came off the wall. The self-tapping screw must have vibrated loose, and it fell onto Nancy's head. I walked over to Gander RV which is right next door, got a larger width screw, and reattached the cover.

Don't forget Daylight Savings Time ends Sunday morning at 2:00 am. Set your clocks before bed time so you don't miss the 2-hour season opener of Yellowstone Sunday night at 8pm EST/7PM CST. But you can't watch it on Paramount Plus. It will only be available on the Paramount Network, web or app. The first three seasons are only available on Peacock.  For more information, read this article:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/why-yellowstone-paramount-s-biggest-show-doesn-t-stream-on-paramount-plus/ar-BB1ef5Ap?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

Sevierville - Day 3

Another relaxing, but expensive day. We went to The Tennessee Shine Company and purchased almost $200 of Shine. Most for others who requested we pick some up for them. By the time I was done tasting the samples, I had to get something to eat quick. I never knew a car could go in circles while goiong straight. Okay, maybe it was me that was going in circles.

After lunch we did some shopping to get supplies to repot some plants, visited Dollar General and Russell Stover candy store and spent another $100. At this rate, I'll have to start printing some larger bills.  :)

The temperature was in the 40's with 95% humidity, so we didn't want to stay outside too long. It seems the further west we are going to go, the warmer it will be. But it is nice to stay in one place for awhile without having to keep packing/unpacking. It is also nice that we had not one stink bug in the last 24 hours. Nancy set up a Rainbow air purifier with some peppermint oil in it. Don't know if it is the cold temperature outside or the peppermint scent inside, but we don't care as long as either of them continues to keep them away.

The answer to last night's question about the cactus: its name is Myrtiocactus geometrizans. We got it from Nancy's sister Linda, whose son Alfred got it at the Philadelphia Horticulture Show in 2014.

A Relaxing Day

The Mrs did laundry, I talked on the phone, we had a late lunch from Arby's, and most importantly for me, Mr Always Cold, we turned the heat up in the RV. Which brings me to the second most important item: we only had three, count-em three, stink-bugs today. But those three smell almost as bad as the fifty we had yesterday!

Aside from the drop in temperature, nothing else has gone on. Tomorrow might be a different story. Maybe.

By the way, can you name the plant in the picture? Hint: yes, it is a cactus. But it's name is?

Sevierville TN

Before I begin about today, I wanted to clarify why I spent the last blog talking about levellers. When extended (put down), they not only make sure the RV living area is level, but they support the frame of the RV. If they are not down and the slide-outs are extended, the frame of the RV can twist or bend due to the weight of the slide-outs and the furniture on them, causing irreversible problems. Without eing able to extend the slide-outs, there is VERY little room to maneuver in the RV.

Understanding that, the adjustments to the settings on the leveller controller we made yesterday worked perfectly. Our levellers retracted and extended without error today.

We left Lexington, Virginia, at 9:30 am this morning and arrived in Sevierville, Tennessee, a little before 3:00 pm. Not bad for 290 miles! It rained most of the day until we were 30 miles from Bristol, VA, then we had smooth driving the rest of the trip. Southern Virginia had some absolutely beautiful fall foliage, yet almost nothing could be found in Tennessee.

The stink bug situation has abated slightly. We probably only captured about 50 today. Hopefully the number keep dropping. Unfortunately, their stink permeates the RV!

We did see signs for a lot of places in Virginia we would like to come back and see, such as The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Stonewall Jackson's Homestead, etc. We will plan another trip just to see all the offerings that Virginia has.

We were happy to hear that our good friends, Renegade Rich and Debi, will be teaching country dances every Monday night, after a 10 year or more hiatus. We will be joining them for sure when we return. We are also glad that another friend, Gene, is home from the hospital after some internal bleeding.

Nightly temperatures here for the next three nights will be in the extreme low thirties, so I think we will be inside before it begins to drop.

We are fortunate to have 2 dogs that are great travellers. No problems with them at all. Not so much for Nancy. They spend all day on her chair while we drive. It doesn't leave much room for her. Unrelated to the dogs, her back has been hurting since we left, so she sleeps with a heating pad. Luckily, our captain chairs also have heaters in them, which has helped her while we drive or watch TV in the evening. 

Speaking of which, it is time to do just that. 

Our Winter 2021 Trip Begins!

Our original trip this year was to head to the Mid- and Northwest. We were going to go to national parks and spend 7 months seeing the sites in 26 states. That would have meant we had visited 47 of the contiguous United States. Unfortunately, covid-19 was running rampant in a lot of the states so we postponed leaving till today with a totally different itinerary (read: we don't really know where we will be going except in the beginning of the trip). We plan to stop in McKinney Texas, about 30 miles north of Dallas and have our windows shades replaced with automatic shades. After 13 years, and having fixed several of the old ones, we decided they needed to go. So today we began our trip.

I woke up the Mrs at 6:30 am this morning to put our final items away. Since the RV sat idle for 7 months, I wanted to get the tires inflated, as over the spring and summer they lost some pressure. We arranged to go to A. Foote Truck and Auto Service, the best in all of South Jersey, and be there at 8:00am. The best laid plans, right? Three of our levellers came up, the 4th wouldn't! So I had to crawl under the RV with a drill and socket to get it to raise. It takes 508 revolutions of the adjustment nut to raise the level one inch, and it had to be raised between 10-11 inches. Also, each time I would apply the brakes the leveller alarm would go off. I had to turn the control panel on and off at least 3 times, each time, to stop the alarm.

Another thing that delayed us: stink bugs. When we pulled in the slides we found layers of these smelly disgusting creatures burrowed under the rubber slide seals. Some were 6 layers deep! We scooped them up, as many as we could get, into a quart-sized baggie. We almost filled it up! As soon as we started scooping, they would drop to the floor and we'd have to rush to pick them up. We tossed that first bag in the trash dumpster before we left. But throughout the day we were catching more, even while driving. I estimate we bagged at least 150 of those little suckers before retiring for the night.

We arrived at 9:30am for the tire pressure adjustment and Brian spent more time raising the leveler. We finally got to leave Elmer at 10:25am. But the alarm continued with every brake application for the next 345 miles.

We arrived at our overnight location at 4:30pm, after stopping a 1/2 hour for our only meal of the day once we crossed into Virginia. We then worked until 6:10pm on the levellers, resetting the home position and auto level settings, finally getting them to work, at least for the night. We will see tomorrow morning if the fix worked.

Next stop: Sevierville,Tn, and relaxing for three days.

One more stop!

The end of our trip begins tomorrow. After 48 hours of torrential rain, thunder, and lightning, the weather is finally clearing up. High winds will end tonight and we will make our way to Virginia. By the end of the week we will be arriving in Pennsylvania. A few weeks there (hopefully) and we will make our way to Old Cedar in Monroeville, NJ, our final stop on this trip.

Then, on September 1st, we will begin The Big Trip, heading to the mid- and Northwest to see some of our country's great parks. And anything else along the way that catches our fancy. 

All fixed!

Last week we were in Red Bay getting RV things taken care of. We had made an appointment to get our satellite dish repaired. Last November a lightning strike nearby killed our ability to watch satellite TV. We knew the strike was close, but had no idea how close. Close enough as it turned out;  it shut down our dish. I replaced a part on the roof, but that didn't correct the problem. 

Our appointment wasn't until Tuesday evening, so on Monday, I started calling people to clear up our list: we had tree scratches down both sides of the rv from a wrong direction heading from our GPS; our door was extremely difficult to open (Nancy could not get it open, and I would have to bang the bottom across from the hinge with my knee to open it); we had some scheduled engine maintenance to get done; we needed the armrests of our chairs fixed as metal corners of the frames were threatening to rip through the fabric; we had a leak somewhere on the roof that had water coming through one of our medicine cabinets; and although our main awning was replaced in December after being torn apart during a storm in August, we could not get it to open. Only the satellite and engine work were scheduled ahead of time. It's not good planning to just show up and request to be put on the schedule, but we tried anyway. We were lucky. I was able to schedule Wednesday morning at a shop to check our door and awning, and got a maybe from a paint shop for the scratches. I stopped several times at a custom shop and finally got someone to come down and see our armrests. The guy took the armrests off and suggested what we needed to do, then left. I was able to do what was suggested, and got the armrests back in place. No mean feat, let me tell you!

While we were at Marjorie's in Texas we had mail-ordered some rugs to cover our tile floor, but one needed to be cut and trimmed to fit around our cabinets. So we laid out the rugs and marked them, then took them to this shop where they cut them and bound the cut edges. Perfection! And from the scrap they made us a mat for in front of the galley sink. We liked the results so much we had new entryway rugs and step covers made to coordinate with the new rugs.  

On Tuesday afternoon we went to the satellite shop. Even the technician had difficulties finding out what was wrong, but he eventually did. In the process we upgraded our system. He also looked at our cable system and found out why our cable TV would not work. Apparently several years ago when the manufacturer replaced the floor of the water bay (under warranty) where the cable connection is made, they had done a shoddy job of fastening the internal connection to the cable. So he tightened that up for us.

Wednesday morning we went to the other shop and in about an hour our door and awning worked like new. We went back to the rv park and waited till our appointment in the afternoon for our engine work. There they replaced all the fluids and discovered the coolant reservoir had numerous internal cracks in it 

which needed to be replaced or the internal pressure might have caused it to leak or possibly fall apart. Our luck it would be when we were on the road. In the process, several bolts on the frame broke from rust and a part of the frame needed to be replaced. All legitimate because I watched all their work and witnessed everything.

While this all occurred, the Tornado warning siren in town went off.  We had been expecting violent storms in the area, but when that happened,  I made reservations for an overnight stay at a guest house so the mechanics could get to their homes and get make whatever preparations they required, and we headed to the storm shelter. There were actually 2 funnel clouds about 3 blocks away, but they never touched down.

After that excitement we headed to the guest house where we spent a comfortable night. 

Thursday morning was taken up by the completion of the engine work,  then we headed back to the rv park. I spoke to the paint specialist i had spoken to on Monday, and he cleared Saturday morning for the work on the scratches.

Friday was a relax day, then very early Saturday morning we had the paintwork done. The scratches, some deep, were only in the clearcoat. They were sanded out, buffed and polished, and it now looks great! He also found and repaired the leak on the roof (we hope). All this took most of the day, so then we went back to the rv park.

Sunday, Nancy did laundry. I don't think we did anything else that day. Monday morning we left Red Bay and drove over 6 hours to Sevierville, Tennessee. We set up our rv, then headed to Big Daddy's for pizza. The best we have ever had! We were there last year and just loved it. 

Yesterday we went to Smoky Mountain Knives, a shop that bills itself as the world's largest knife shop. It has four floors of every knife you can imagine. It also has a newly enlarged gun shop where I saw a handgun I liked very much. We returned from there and one of our sinks drained extremely slowly, so I took the pipes apart and unclogged and cleaned them. I also reversed the hot and cold connections as they needed to be switched to keep up to standard. Today I went back to the gun shop and purchased the handgun, which I can get when we get back east, as it has to be sent to a Federal Firearms Licensed dealer first.

We are going to relax the rest of the week. We are expecting bad storms and possible tornadoes tomorrow, but the rest of the week will be fine. We will leave sometime next week, stopping in Virginia, then heading to Pennsylvania, where we have to move our stuff out of our daughter's basement to a storage facility, as she is moving out of the house. We will get to Monroeville,  NJ, hopefully by mid-april.

And now you are caught up!

Did I really say "Once a week"?

Okay, it's been more than a week. More like eight or nine. But we're back on-line. Hope this finds everyone well! We have been busy "workcamping" at Marjorie's, lol!

Lasr weekend as we were getting the RV ready for our departure Friday morning, we had wanted to disinfect our fresh water system as it been 2 years since the last time it was done (it's supposed to be done every 6 months). In doing so, we discovered our water filter canister had cracked after freezing during the winter storms we had here. We would not be able to have any flowing water until fixed, but we had to wait until Monday to overnight order one. All the dealers in Texas were out of them, as many RV owners had the same problem. We had to order it from our Rv manufacturer here in Alabama.

We received it Tuesday afternoon and quickly completed the work. But in the process found another filter housing that had developed a hairline crack and was leaking. Fortunately we had a spare on hand, replaced it and was able to complete the fresh water tank sanitizing.

Before we left Marjorie provided us with a list she had compiled showing that we had completed at least 65 projects. From small size to large. We are glad to have assisted, but they are already compiling a list for our next visit. On the more positive side, we did get both of our Covid shots, so we are good to go. And go we did.

We left Friday morning and drove 333 miles north, and east of Dallas, to an overnight campground named Shady Lake in Sulphur Springs. Just an overnight stop.  Saturday morning we drove another 183 miles to Downtown Riverside RV Park in North Little Rock,  Arkansas, right on the Arkansas River. Then today we drove to Memphis, TN, through Mississippi, and finally arrived at our destination in Red Bay, Alabama. Hopefully some of the workmen will return our calls and we can get our repair list completed. Nothing to do tomorrow but relax. Tuesday we get our satellite system repaired, Wednesday the RV fluids changed and our tires rotated, and the rest of the week waiting to fit in the other workers.

So I'll update this blog as things occur. Stay tuned!

Inauguration Day

As of today we have a new President! Let's put politics aside and work together as one nation towards the common good. If things don't work, we can change the course of our nation in another four years. Let's all be positive.

Since New Years Eve, we haven't had much to share. Just finishing up our work around this home, which has turned out well. We did two on-line painting evenings. Here are Nancy's paintings:

and here are mine:

Hey, nobody said we were artists! But we are doing another round on Sunday night.

My sister Marjorie and I have been learning Hebrew conversation from audio DVDs. She is doing well, but it's difficult for me. Too much vocabulary with a lot of gutteral sounds!

Last Friday we got our first covid-19 shots (Pfizer vaccine). The center was very organized. One station to sign you in, the next for the shot, a third where they automatically schedule your 2nd shot, and a 4th where you wait for 10 minutes to ensure you don't have a reaction to the vaccine. Our next shots are scheduled for February 5th. We hope everyone can get theirs sooner than later.

Because not much is happening, I will be posting a new blog once a week, otherwise there wouldn't be enough to write about.

Until the next post, be safe!

New Year's Eve/Day

 We hope everyone had a fun yet safe New Year's Eve! For dinner on NYE, everyone had filet mignon (from TrimRite Meats in NJ) and broiled 8-10 oz. lobster tails, along with green beans and French fries, and served with Dom Perignon, 1988. Everything was made to perfection.

We scheduled our first Covid-19 vaccination shots for January 15th. So that means we won't be traveling like we had expected. We will now be here until at least mid-February to allow time for our second shot. We ordered a few things from local stores we needed for our reorganization, and used curbside delivery, where they bring the items from the store and put them directly in the back of your car. Keeps everyone safer that way.

NYE day, we continued with our redesign and reorganization of rooms, furniture, etc., but only for half a day. We installed and configured some Wyze lightbulbs and a security camera, installed the software on Mom and Marjorie's phones, and created automated schedules for all.

Today, the 2nd, everyone continued with the reorganization, and we set up a corner desk for use as Mom's sewing area. 

Now it's late, so once again, Buenas Noches!

Catching Up

A lot to catch up on! To those of you readers that kept looking for a new post, sorry! We were afraid that Mom or Marjorie, my sister, would be looking at the blog so we decided it best not to write anymore. Since we wanted to surprise them upon arrival we felt it best not to write anything more. More on that later.

While in Nashville, as you know, on Christmas morning a distraught person blew himself and his RV to kingdom come, damaging 40 buildings, hurting 8 people, and causing internet and phone service throughout Northern Alabama, parts of Georgia and Mississippi. We were about3 miles as the crow flies from the explosion. A Christmas to remember for many Nashvillites.

On Christmas eve we called for a reservation at Little Rock KOA right on I-40 for two days hence, but they had availability for that Saturday night. We then left a message for Downtown Riverside RV Park, an RV park situated right on the banks of the Arkansas River. We had stayed there last year and found it to be a well-maintained campground.

On Christmas Day we received a phone call from the manager who, although they were off for the holiday, stopped into the office just to check for messages. Very fortunate for us, and also that they had one site available for us right on the edge of the river. Before she even finished speaking, I accepted the site (we had no other options). 

On the 26th, we woke to 18 degree weather, wind chills of 5 degrees. We planned to leave for Little Rock by 9:30 AM, but didn't get to leave until 10:45 AM. When we were ready to go, one of our levelers had frozen to the ground. I played with the controls, banged the leveler with a small sledge, then crawled under the RV and finally was able to raise the leveler with a drill. (It takes 1200 revolutions to raise the leveler one inch, and we had 12 inches to raise. The drill makes it sooo much easier!) Seven and a half hours and strong crosswinds later, we arrived in Little Rock.

We spent a relatively warm night in Little Rock. Not much to say about it when you spend the rest of the evening in the RV. But we had good WIFI to stream TV. 

Next morning we left for Elm Mott, Tx, just north of Waco. A nice campground right off I-35 South. Another 8 hour drive. Temperatures in the low 70's. They have their own WIFI here, having spent over $100,000 to have fiber optic brought in..  Every morning some women come to the campground and make breakfast for everyone. You tell them what you want from their list, and they prepare it for you. Very good food! The breakfasts are free; the ladies work solely for tips.

Mom called us while on the road here inquiring about our trip, what time we left, how far til we stopped, things like that. She also asked if we would be starting this blog again. See, she thought, as we originally told her, we would be leaving on Sunday, the 27th, not as we did on the 23rd. We wanted to surprise her by arriving four days early. So we told her the time we left, but not from where, and when she asked where we were stopping, we told her first stop on this year's trip was Fort Chiswell, Va. See, we didn't lie to her, we just didn't answer her question. So she thought that's where we were heading. I told her I wasn't writing the blog that night, that I was exhausted from driving. Again, not a lie, just a little subterfuge.

Monday morning we got on the road at 9:45 AM. Aside from intermittent rain and fog, we had no incidents on the road. We got to Schertz in 2-1/2 hours, fueled up and drove to Marjorie's house planning to surprise Mom and Marjorie. The surprise was on us. We pulled up to the driveway just as Mom had decided to let dogs out into the yard There went the surprise.

We have spent the last two days with Nancy redesigning some rooms Marjorie wanted changed, redecorating, moving furniture, packing books, just making their house more functional. We have a lot more to do so will be busy for a few weeks.

Now you, dear readers, are caught up. More to come in a day or two. Ciao!

Nashville

We left Fort Chiswell this morning at 8:57 EST after filling our onboard propane tank, which was less then half full. We had checked the weather for Nashville and knew the temperature would be going down to around 18 degrees. With everything closed down for Christmas eve and Christmas we wanted to be sure we had enough propane to keep us warm.

It rained almost the entire trip but traffic was relatively light. We had freezing rain for about 70 miles then about 75 miles from Nashville the rain stopped but traffic increased. During the trip we checked the weather in Clarksboro and saw it was 63 degrees. We wanted to go south to avoid the cold, and ironically where we left was warm and where we were heading was cold.

We arrived in Nashville at 3:50 EST (2:50 PM CST), having driven the 363 miles without a stop. We knew the campground office would be closed but they had left information about our site on their late arrivals board. We parked, unpacked and had an hour-and-a-quarter before a zoom Christmas eve gathering with my kids and our grandchildren, so we rushed out to Logan's steakhouse, had dinner, and was back inside the RV with 10 minutes to spare.

We spent an enjoyable hour or so with the kids/grandkids, playing fun games previously emailed to us by Stacey that we printed out and played the games with. After the games, it started snowing, although its not supposed to accumulate.

Temps tomorrow, along with projected 45 mph winds, are expected to create a chill factor of 0-5 degrees, so we're glad we had filled up with propane.  When we leave Saturday the temps are expected to go from near zero in the morning to 50 degrees. Our next stop will be Little Rock, Arkansas, where we will continue the blog. Taking the day off tomorrow. Until then...

Merry Christmas!

A Long Day

We got up at 6 AM and hit the road at 8:25. The traffic was okay until we got to Maryland. We were stuck in a 7 mile traffic jam due to road construction. We averaged about 9 miles an hour. Hit another traffic jam on 495W around Washington DC, then an even bigger one near Tyson's Corners, Va., this one about 15 miles long.

The weather was sunny and wind was calm until we got on 81 south, then the wind picked up and strengthened the further south we drove.

Our GPS was acting up on us. At one point it took us into a residential neighborhood and said "You have arrived at your destination!" Only 283 miles from the actual destination. Then, instead of keeping us on 66W to 81S it took us via 29S, a route full of traffic lights, small towns, and low speed limits. Maybe it thought it was the fastest or shortest route. Who knows?

We arrived at Fort Chiswell RV campground at 5:40pm in the dark. The office was closed so we picked our own site and settled in.

Weather for next leg calls for heavy rain with a winter storm warning with heavy snow and freezing rain. We get this weather every time we stop here. But this is why we are traveling, to try to avoid that kind of weather.

This post is a day late. It was written three times but wifi connection kept cutting out losing the post.

Our next stop in Nashville will be a little better. We are staying for two nights before continuing on. Christmas in Nashville! 

Merry Christmas to everyone, and to all a good night!

Getting Ready for Our Next Trip

 The past two weeks we have gotten all of our medical appointments taken care of and we are in good health. Yesterday we went and had a Covid-19 Rapid Test. It turned out to be not so rapid. Last week we called to set an appointment and they told us since the reason we wanted the test was because we would be travelling we could just show up and get the test. So yesterday we just showed up.

Not so fast, we were told. Without an appointment we would have to wait for an opening in the schedule. After all, the other people had appointments! So we waited almost two hours before we got in, then another 40 minutes until we were done. As we knew, we were negative, but we wanted the test before we left in case of any problems with authorities in different states.

Today we (95% Nancy) went through everything inside, and threw out a lot of stuff. We shredded old and private documents and rearranged the cabinets et al, to make everything fit.

I worked outside, checking fluid levels in the batteries, installed a transmitter at the back of the RV for use with our tire sensors, installed the sensors on the car (I had put them on the RV tires weeks ago), confirmed next year's reservations for here and for our 2nd and 3rd nights of travel this trip. 

Yesterday we noticed that the basement door to our propane tank was very loose. It turns out it was several things: a bolt hole was enlarged allowing the catch to move, and the latch had a broken support which allowed it to pull out of its fixed position. So I did the smart thing: I called Danny, my stepson, a wizard at fixing things and designing parts (he does this for a living at refineries and hospitals). Sure enough, the two of us got both problems repaired after two hours. Thank goodness for Dan's ingenuity.

Soon enough we will be on the road. Our first day will be long, eight hours of driving to Southern Virginia. The next day 6 hours to Nashville, TN, where we will stay for two days. Then on to Little Rock, AR, and then onto Texas.

That's it for now.