Tight Fit

In keeping with our attempts at traveling slower, we pulled out of the Campground Under The Bridge at 10:55 am, just five minutes before the 11:00 checkout time.  We didn’t hear too much traffic noise because of running the a/c, but on occasion a really loud truck could be heard rumbling by.  I guess I can understand now why Trolls who live under bridges are so cranky.  ;c)

Not much to talk about on our travels, nice sunny day except for a five mile long rainstorm, just enough to take the clean shine off the Journey.  We stopped at Camping World in Roanoke, VA to pick up a few odds and ends.  I try to keep all my chemicals and cleaners fully stocked, as well as adding a tube of self leveling caulk to the repair locker.

I was pleased with the mileage the Journey cranked out, even with all the mountains (okay, hills for you westerners) I averaged a pretty solid 8.5 mpg, which helps take a little sting out of the cost of fuel.

After 325 miles, we pulled in to a Flying J in PA.  Since we’re in the Making Tracks mode we don’t really care where we stay the night, home is where ever we are.

Flying J’s usually have a parking area reserved for RVs, separate from all the truck parking.  The truckers need to have a place to get their rest and it’s good to keep the RVs out of their parking spaces.

Strangely, this FJ has a RV parking area that is jammed with Bobtail Tractors, (that is the term for the tractor without an attached trailer).  They took up almost all the RV spaces and apparently the management doesn’t care to enforce the parking rules and direct them to the truck parking area .

I squeezed the Journey in and was able to open the slides on one side.  I talked with the trucker next to me about the slides and he said he’d watch out for them when he pulls out if we’re still here in the morning. 

We’ve watched a bunch of RVs pull in and then pull out because there is no space for them tonight.  Bummer.  Glad we got here early.

We’re not complaining, you get what you pay for, and we’ll be paying quite a bit when we fill up with diesel tomorrow.  Keeping it in perspective, it’s still cheaper than overnighting at Walmart!  ;c)

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

Stickin’ To The Plan…Almost

Being in no rush this morning to pull out, we had a leisurely breakfast and then set out to make the Journey road ready.  By 10:30 we rolled out of the Wood Smoke Campground and headed down the road to the nearby Walmart.

One thing we like about South Carolina is the reasonably cheap fuel prices.  This Walmart carries diesel and I filled up, wishing my tank was at least twice as big as it is.  I won’t see prices like this anytime soon.

 

Of course, there is also this sticker on the pump:

 

After my initial trouble with Biodiesel and going through a couple of fuel filter changes, the Journey runs well on it, even though I can tell I’m losing a few tenths of a mpg using it.  An occasional bottle of diesel fuel additive seems to help, or maybe it’s just my imagination.  At least I feel better doing it.

We took it easy and had a nice drive up from SC, through the mountains of North Carolina and into Virginia.  We planned to stop overnight at a Flying J, but that’s where the plan went awry.  That FJ is on I-77 and not on I-81, which we were on.  Oops!

Plan B time.  Not being sure of nearby Walmarts or other truck stops, we decided to take another stab at a Passport America campground and found one right off the highway in Radford, VA.  No wandering around back roads for miles this time!

Not much of a campground, but at $18.75 for the night, we paid to stay.  The first site we backed into had a problem with the electricity, the breaker kept kicking off.  We moved down a couple of sites, trying the electric box first with my Surge Guard to make sure it was good, before moving the Journey into it and setting up.

This campground is right on a little river, seems like there are a few fishermen using it. 

It also comes with an added bonus,

 

It is right under a highway bridge for I-81.  So now instead of hearing truck engines idling at a Flying J, we get to hear them flying by.  Not a big deal, we have the a/c on and the fan pretty much drowns out that noise.

We did stop driving at only 257 miles, so that part of the plan worked.  See?  I’m kicking the PDD habit!  :c)

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

Too Tired To Take Pictures

Sometimes life gets away from you.  You get so busy that lugging that heavy pocket sized camera is the last thing on your mind.

First off, after returning Sunday from our weeklong Disney trip with our grandsons, starting Monday, Marti and I spent four hours every morning over at our daughter Heather’s church as volunteers for the week long camp program the church puts on every year.  465 kids showed up, Marti and I each handled nine 6-10 year old boys doing woodworking.  We built bird houses.

Eighteen rambunctious boys, power drills, sharp screws and electric screwdrivers kept us hopping, with visions on lost eyes and missing fingers if we let our guard down.  Thankfully, no blood was spilled, and eighteen boys each went home at the end of the week with a really well constructed bird house, as well as all their fingers and eyes.  And we went home each day to collapse and recuperate for the next day.  It has been a long time since I was so happy to see Friday!

We did have to postpone our after camp R&R Wednesday afternoon for a very important event:  Owie’s birthday, he’s now seven.  He got quite a haul of presents and had fun opening them while everyone looked on.  Okay, I did drag the camera along this time.

 

We went out to dinner to celebrate.  Score!  No cooking dinner.  :c)

I’ve continued to work on my computer.  I think I’ve gotten it to working about 90%.  We found the reason my files got so screwed up when being restored by Carbonite.  When the dolts at the computer non-repair shop wiped my hard drive, they removed my Windows Home and Office, which had Word on it.  So when Carbonite went to restore my document, it could only put them in Word Pad, which the dolts had installed back on the computer.

Fortunately, I had the original software for Windows Home and Office, so it would be an easy solution to the file problem.  So I thought.

Somehow, my disc drive no longer works.  It would not accept a CD.  $39 later, I purchased a portable disc drive so I could successfully reload the software.

Being the social butterflies we are, we couldn’t pass up a chance to visit with our good friends Laurie and George who are having a great time workamping at J. Strom Thurmond COE. (Laurie was my very first blog follower!). 

We arranged to meet Thursday halfway between where we both are located in SC for a late lunch and had a great time catching up. Okay, I may have misled you by the post title, I did bring my camera again.

Sunday we head out to New Jersey to son Corey’s and DIL Amanda’s house…and granddaughter Anabelle.  Anabelle’s new sister is due mid July and we want to be part of the welcoming committee.

Today, despite the heat and humidity, I changed the generator oil and oil filter, checked all the tires and their pressures and washed the Journey top to bottom.  I haven’t been able to wash the poor rig since March, just before we departed from our workamping jobs at J. Strom Thurmond COE.  It was so dirty, that once I got it washed, it looked like a million dollar rig.

Marti spent the day inside doing a deep cleaning, so we’re all spiffed up inside and out.

We’re taking our time to travel up to NJ, planning on three days to travel the 850+ mile trip.  Slow and steady driving is kind of becoming more in style for us lately.  Maybe I’m being rehabilitated from my PDD driving style (Or maybe I’m still tired from all that woodworking with those energetic lads)?  :cD

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

Marti Saves The Day

As many of you know, I’ve been struggling to get my computer up to full speed after the disaster of having my hard drive wiped (without my permission) by the computer repair shop that replaced my cracked screen. 

I had Carbonite as my automatic back up and after several three day long attempts, I got most everything back.  I still have some .doc files that somehow were converted to .doc.wps files that I have to straighten out so I can open them.

What I did not get back was my anti-virus program, a cleaner program and Windows Live Writer, which I use to blog.  I find it so much easier than Blogger.  I write the post on Live Writer and then send it off to Blogger to post.  It works quick and easy.

I was quite “T’d” off at not getting those programs back.  When I talked to the Carbonite tech, they said programs like that are not restored by them due to copyright issues.

Marti was able to find and get my Live Writer back and working.

I did a quick test post to see if it really worked correctly, posted it and when I was satisfied everything was okay, I deleted it.  It was only up for a couple of minutes and I hope I didn’t cause any confusion with its rapid removal.  I just wanted to be absolutely sure before I worked up a new post that might have had issues.

I don’t know how she did it, but I’m a happy camper now (and a lucky guy).  So onward with our RV adventures!

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

We Tired Them Out!

Being a couple of fifty something grandparents, it is always a challenge to take two young grandsons on vacation, especially to a place that requires lots of walking, laughing and at times hanging on for dear life.  Disney World in Florida is one of our favorite places to go and we make it there almost every year.

We camp in our favorite campground, Fort Wilderness, on the Disney property.

The sites are large, level and have a nice concrete pad, with a sandy area in back.

It's not necessary, but we always rent a golf cart to get around the Fort.  It makes it easy to get to and from some of the transportation areas and saves time.  Plus, there is nothing better than knowing you have a ride to your site after a busy day and not having to wait for a campground bus with a tired pair of boys.

Even with all the parks to visit, Andrew still took the time to practice his lessons on Marti's portable piano we carry in the Journey.

Something new Disney has added is Magic Bands, a wrist wearing device that you use as a ticket.  You also can book via the Internet "Fast Passes" for some of the rides so you don't have to wait in long lines.

You touch your Magic Band to a scanner, and then you have to have a fingerprint read to gain admission.  There are still bugs in the bands, they worked about 75% of the time, when they didn't work, you had to have a Disney employee double check your band on a portable computer.  This often caused delays at the admission gates. 

Our favorite ride, hands down, is Splash Mountain. 

Nothing better than getting soaked on a hot day!

The nice thing about staying at Disney was we could go into one of the four parks in the morning, then come home for lunch at the Journey and spend a couple of hours in the campground pool.  It has a great water slide and a hot tub to sooth grandparent's tired legs. 

After a cooling swim, we'd head off to another park, either by the Monorail, or boat.

At EPCOT, they have revamped the Test Track ride.  While you are waiting for your ride, you can design a car to your own taste.  Owie designed quite a car, maybe it will see production some day.

We had a four day ticket with the park hopper addition so we could bounce from park to park on the same day.  We decided to build in a day off mid week to rest up a bit.  But we didn't let the whole day go to waste, we took the boys to an evening show of The Blue Man Group.

It was a zany, wild, hilarious comedy show that the boys loved.  If you never heard of them and what they do, there are many clips of their show on YouTube.  It's a must see if you ever get the chance.

We had a visitor at our campsite most days.  I can even identify this particular bird without Judy or Sherry's help.  He's a turkey.  Hopefully, he doesn't end up on somebody's table one day.

Despite all the hot, humid weather, we only hit rain on the last day in the parks and it was right at the last ride.  We always come prepared with some disposable rain coats for just such an occasion.

 Saturday morning we headed out, the boys were ready to go home.  They were pretty tired from all the adventures and several late nights (don't tell their mom!).  We broke the ride home into two days, with an overnight stop in Brunswick, GA at the Coastal Georgia RV Resort, a first class place, with a great pool to cool off some energetic lads.

They were happy to get home Sunday and see their mom and dad.  We dropped off the boys and then headed to our campsite at nearby Wood Smoke campground for a week.  It was a blast and we look forward to the next Disney World visit.  We still have to get our granddaughters there, none of them have been there.  Yet.  ;c)

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

Hospital Visit

Owie studied an interesting subject in school this past year, one he found fascinating.  He learned all about Sea Turtles, how they live and breed, and the major threats to their safety and well being.  We stopped at Jekyll Island to learn first hand about a great organization dedicated to helping the Sea Turtles.

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center is a great place to learn about Sea Turtles, it is well laid out and very informative.

The best part was this, the Turtle Hospital, where injured Sea Turtles are collected, given medical attention and nursed back to health so they can be returned to the ocean.  Some turtles are so badly injured that they can never again live in the wild, so they are moved to various aquariums around the country where they can be cared for and live safely.

 

The hospital has vets on staff to treat the turtle's injuries and each turtle is placed in a large tank to live in while it heals.  Some of the tanks had mirrors over them so the turtles could be viewed easily.

 

 

Other tanks you could see the turtles just by leaning over them.

 

 

The biggest threat to the turtles is plastic, that some how is dumped or ends up in the ocean, where it can be mistaken for food and eaten by the turtles, which can kill them.  To bring home the point about plastic pollution, the center constructed a Sea Turtle, made entirely from plastic that had washed up on nearby beaches.

 

 

We all enjoyed the Sea Turtle Center and learned a lot.  We even placed a sticker on the car to remind people to take steps to care for the Sea Turtles.

 

We'll make sure to drive carefully around turtle habitats near shore areas.

 

 

Now please excuse us this week for getting a little behind in blogging as we're somewhat preoccupied with our location.  ;c)

 

(My computer is still on the "sick list", but I'm able to do some posts using Blogger.  When we get to an area where I can access some good WiFi, I hope to get it back to full "health".)

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

Heading For Disney World

The day had finally arrived.  We finished up with Marti's conference in Myrtle Beach, SC and we headed out to I-95.  We had an important rendezvous to make.

We met Owie and Andrew at a truck stop, our daughter Heather and SIL Brian drove them to meet us so we'd not have to drive all the way to their home to pick up the boys.  That saved us a bunch of time (and diesel fuel).

Owie looked over the map to see our route.

Andrew hopped in the co-pilot seat to help me watch out for traffic and look for the exit signs where we needed to turn.

Since we had three days to drive to Disney World, we were going to make a couple of stops to see some of the attractions along the way.  Our first day's stop was the National Museum of the Eight Air Force.  The boys loved all the planes and were introduced to an airplane I've been reading about for many years, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.

The museum's B-17 is being restored to its WWII configuration after being de-militarized after the war and spending many years as a forest fire bomber dropping fire retardant on forest fires.  After that service, it languished in storage for decades before the museum obtained it as the central show piece for their collection.  Of the 12,000 plus B-17s that were built during the war, there are less than 50 that survive today, and about 12 are still airworthy and flying as hands on history lessons, appearing at air shows around the country.

The boys were amazed at the size of it.

Andrew even got to try out a common telephone of the 1930's, quite a change from today's cell phones.

 A neat place for boys to visit and learn about history and appreciate what servicemen and women from the Greatest Generation did to protect the freedom we enjoy today.

We made another stop, to see something that Owie studied about in school this year.  That's for the next post, so please stand by.

I'm still working to get my laptop back to normal, it's hard because I don't want to burn through the remain data I have on our MiFi, so I've had to use campground WiFi, not the best, or even close to fast, but it's slowly getting done.

Please forgive me if we don't get many posts in next week, or comments on your blogs, we're going to make the most of our week at Fort Wilderness and Disney World.  :c)

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

Ships Not Passing In The Night

Too often as we travel, we have other wonderful RV friends we've met that are nearby, and yet due to our traveling schedules, we just miss them.  Sort of like ships passing in the night.

Thankfully, because of blogging, we still are able to keep in touch, but it's not quite the same as enjoying their company face-to-face.

We got lucky while we're here in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Bill and Nancy, fellow full time RVers and great friends of ours happened to be at nearby Huntington Beach State Park.  It had been about two years since we saw them last, so we jumped at the chance to get together with them, although the time was way too short.

We had a great time and shared all that has been going on with each other's travels and lives.  We often travel in the same geographic area, so hopefully we'll see each other more often in the future.

On the computer front, still trying to make progress.  I've spent several hours on the phone with Carbonite tech reps (they're in Maine, but for some reason speak English with a funny accent) trying to get my laptop back to proper working condition.  I still can't get Live Writer, Vipre and System Mechanic to load back on and I've had a problem which has baffled the tech reps.  My document files that have ".doc" after them have acquired and additional end on them, now they end in ".doc.wps".   I can't open them without buying some software for about $30 to translate the files back to the original.  I'm hoping to find a work around to save that $30.

I had to stop the full recovery of all my files for the time being, too.  I have a Millenicom MiFi that gives me 20 GB/month of data and I was contacted by them, informing me I had burned through 31.5GBs!   I had to buy an additional 20 GB for another $89.99 for a monthly total of 40 GB, so I now have just 8.5 GB to last me the month of June.  If I exceed 40 GB, I'll be shut off Internet access until 1 July.  Oops!

This computer fiasco has been getting expensive.  $188 for the screen repair, then $75 for the reload of Windows 7 after the computer "tech" (and I use that term loosely) wiped my hard drive when the computer would not start after the screen was replaced.  Now the additional $89.99 for extra data has made this whole episode look like I should have junked the laptop and bought a new one in the first place.

I tried to reload Vipre, my anti-virus program with no success.  I contacted their service rep phone number and got some guy in India who claimed that I needed to redo the registry on my computer and it would cost only $199.  I passed on that, hopefully I can get my $14.95/year System Mechanic loaded back on to do that registry fix (if it's needed at all).

Maybe I'll be able to get this all repaired this next week, I'll have my 10 year old, computer savvy grandson, Andrew with me on the trip to Disney World. I'd be smart to let him handle it.

I think I'd better stick to fixing diesel engines, something that I can actually understand...  ;c)

(Posted from Marti's laptop)

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Happily Surprised

We are in Myrtle Beach, SC, at a KOA, no less!  We chose the KOA based on its nearness to the conference which Marti is attending.

We normally avoid KOAs because not only are they very expensive, but they seem to pack as many RVs in as they can.

The Myrtle Beach KOA is very different and we were happily surprised.  We are in a large FHU site, nicely landscaped and shaded, with plenty of room between sites.  Not something we've experienced before at a KOA.  The trees help the area to stay cooler and quieter.  We're liking that, too.

Yesterday, after we arrived, we took a test drive to the conference location to see how long it would take for Marti to drive there.  We stumbled across an RV resort almost next door that we hadn't known about.  We stopped at it and got a pass to drive around for a "look see".

Sardines have more room in their can than the people have at this resort.  I guess the attraction to being so close to your neighbor is the beach access.  I prefer a little room so I won't have the person in the next RV reading over my shoulder as I use my Kindle.

Plus, the price was $13 more/night than the KOA here.  We're passing on this place and will continue to use this KOA for our base from now on when Marti attends her annual conference.

Being here in Myrtle Beach is okay, but we're looking forward to meeting  Bill and Nancy  tomorrow for dinner.  They've been staying at nearby Huntington Beach State Park and are leaving Wednesday for further travels, so we feel lucky to be able to visit before they roll out.  You have to check out their blog and see about Nancy's close encounter with a gator.

Still writing from Marti's laptop, my laptop is recovering all the lost data and files via my Carbonite program.  It's sitting on the dash, purring away.  I was told it could take up to three days for a full recovery and it got interrupted when we drove down here, so I had to start the process all over again.  I'm looking forward to getting it back on line.  When you customize and get used to a computer, using someone else's is sort of like borrowing their shoes.  They work, but not a perfect fit.  ;c)


We leave here Friday morning and will meet our daughter, Heather at a spot on I-95.  She's dropping off grandsons Andrew and Owie for our trip to Disney World.  We are not going directly there, I have planned a three day trip to go the 500 miles to get there.  I have two interesting stops to make along the way that the boys will go wild about.  Stay tuned to see what they are.

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

Posting From A Borrowed Computer

A big part of our RV life is staying connected.  The Internet is almost a lifeline at times, finding routes, good campgrounds and being able to Facetime with our grandkids.  Fortunately we both have a laptop (so there is no waiting for the other to get done, like we do with the bathroom.)  Plus we have the little, almost useless net book that rounds out the computers that we carry with us in the Journey.  It's nice to have a fall back when laptops go haywire.  Tonight, I'm posting from Marti's laptop, which she has so graciously loaned to me.

My laptop saga continues.  After having the screen replaced ($188), the computer would not start up.  The repair shop claimed they didn't do anything to cause that but would take a look at it.  Later they claimed the hard drive was not working right so they would need do a test on it.

Well, the test turned out okay, so they said they needed to reload Windows 7 on it, normally they would charge $150, but as a courtesy, they'd install it for $75.  Being stuck between a rock and a hard place, I had them go ahead.  I couldn't prove that the laptop worked when I brought it in and I couldn't prove that they had screwed something up, so I had them do the work so I could just get the laptop out of their hands.  I have to point out that this laptop cost $900+, so it wasn't something I was just going to trash and buy a new one (which now would cost, with the same specs, over $1200).

I went to pick it up today and they installed Windows 7 as promised, only the oldest version, without all the service pack updates that I had.  Plus, they wiped the hard drive to do the install.  Oh boy.

Thankfully, I have Carbonite backups on both out laptops.  With a little help from the Carbonite service tech, (in Maine, not India!) I have the laptop humming with a restore of all my programs and files.  The catch is it will take two to three days to download.  Fortunately, I have logged in to the campground WiFi so I don't use up all my 20 GBs on my Millenicom MiFi.  I'm hoping for two days because we are leaving Sunday to go to Myrtle Beach for a week for a conference Marti is attending.

So without a laptop to use, I instead busied myself with knocking a few more odd jobs off the list to keep the Journey in tip-top shape.  One thing that's been bugging me is the back wheels are covered with mud from the campground where I (almost) got stuck.  You can't wash your motorhome in the campground we're at, but I did sneak a fast wash of all the tires and rims.  After they dried, I gave them a good coating of 303 Protectant (good stuff) to prevent UV damage.  I got away with it.  :c)

My rear leveling jacks have been getting slower and slower on the retraction, so I got an old toothbrush, some rags and WD-40 and gave the seal area and the shafts a good cleaning.  Then the cleaning bug took hold, so I spent some time cleaning the metal "Winnebago" plate on my mud flap, then spying some rust on a coolant pipe, I sanded it down and repainted it.

My new house batteries got checked over, too.  I had the battery watering system installed on my old batteries, but when the Winnebago Service Department install the three new ones, they are the type that the system won't fit in.  So it was back to the old fashioned way, mirrors and a battery fill bulb to ensure these expensive babies were topped off.

Last came the change of my air conditioner filter.  Even though they say they are good for up to three months, I change them out monthly.  It's getting hotter as summer approaches and anything I can do to ensure good air flow through the a/c cooling fins is worth it.

Thankfully, working with my hands is good therapy for me instead of scratching my head over the mysteries of what goes on inside a computer.  That's the stuff I'll leave for Andrew, my 10 year old grandson to explain to me!  ;c)

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

Jury Duty

Sorry this post's format is all screwy, it was done on my netbook, not a good device to blog on!I had a bit of a sleepless night wondering how I was going to handle my Jury Duty summons. It was for the entire month of July in Sioux Falls, SD, and we are planning to be in NJ for the birth of our granddaughter #6 (and grandkid #8). Thinking this could be an ugly situation kept me tossing and turning. I decided first thing in the morning to call our South Dakota mail service and see what they recommended. Seems like they had this situation before, the lady that answered the phone rattled a phone number right off the top of her head of whom to call. I called the number and got a voice mail, the usual leave your name and number messege until at the end, the voice said if you're a full time RVer, just fill out the juror form and at the top of it write full time RV traveler, put down the license plate of your RV and mail it in. Wow, nothing to worry about at all. I did as instructed and mailed the form in. Lost sleep over nothing. With the recommendation of my son, Corey, who is a Honda service manager in NJ, I took the Element in to a repair shop to have that pesky check engine light issue resolved. It was a bad solenoid on the valve timing and I had it replaced. The car does run much better now and we'll have no more worries about getting stuck on the road. Now the next fun issue, my laptop. I took it in to the computer repair shop to have the cracked screen replaced. Today, when I went to pick it up, the screen looked good but now it would not boot up, it just froze. The tech claimed I must have damaged the hard drive when the screen cracked. I told him it cracked a couple of months ago and I've been using it daily with no problems. He said to leave it with him so he could test the hard drive. Now here is the fun. The screen replacement is $188. I brought in a perfectly working computer with a cracked screen. Now I have a perfect screen and a non working computer. I can't wait to see where this is going to go. I surely don't want to be buying a new computer and I don't want to pay for a repair after they did something to damage my laptop. The good thing is I have Carbonite backup so I won't lose any files or pictures. We've been having a great time with grandsons Andrew and Owie. They can't wait for our trip to Disney World in two weeks. Owie is especially excited because he has finally grown tall enough to ride every attraction there. He wants to do Space Mountain first. I hope my stomach is up to it. Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.

It Wasn’t My Fault…Honest!

I should be thankful, I guess.  At least this time my shoes didn’t squish when I walked.  Nor were there “things” to pick up off the ground like the time my sewer hose came apart.

Nope, but I did everything right, and it still went wrong.

Prior to leaving the KOA this morning, I needed to dump the Journey's tanks.  Because of the poor layout of the campsite, I had to back up the Journey to the rear of the site to reach the sewer connection.  As it was, I had to use all 15 feet of my sewer hose to reach the hole.

No threads on the pipe to screw the hose into, so I had Marti keep her foot on the hose where it went into the hole.  I opened the black tank valve and you-know-what started to squirt right out around the hole.  Marti jumped back like a scalded cat and got away clean.  I slammed the valve closed and what remained in the hose continued to squirt out until the pressure dropped.

Now what?  I opened the gray tank valve for a couple of seconds and liquid started squirting out again.  With the valve closed water continued to trickle out until it ran clearer and soap suds appeared.

After a few minutes allowing everything to soak into the ground, I was able to disconnect the sewer hose and wash down the (thankfully) small spill.

I looked down the sewer hole and not even a foot down it was plugged by something.  Plugged solid. 

I was relieved that it wasn’t my fault at all.  We gave up on dumping the tanks, but notified the KOA office of the problem.

We did just under 150 miles to get to our “home” campground, Wood Smoke Family Campground, near our daughter’s house.  We had a nice visit with grandsons Andrew and Owen and they helped me clean the bugs off the front of the Journey and set it up.  We’ll be here for a week.

I picked up the mail packet I had my mail service send to Heather’s house and when I opened it, much to my surprise was a notice to appear for Jury Duty in Sioux Falls, SD for the entire month of July.

Hmm, we have plans to be in NJ for another incoming granddaughter.  I am not sure how to work this out, so I’ll call in the morning to see what can be done.

All during my law enforcement career, testifying in many trials. I wondered what it would be like to sit on a jury.  Now that I’m retired the chance has arisen and it’s not a good time.  Plus, even if I was called, I know I’d be dismissed because defense attorneys aren’t keen on law enforcement officers, active or retired, sitting on a jury.

Always something interesting.  Has anyone run into this situation before?  Any advice is appreciated.

In the mean time, I won’t be posting for the next few days, the laptop is going in the shop for a new screen.  I accidently  stepped on my laptop and cracked the screen when I was taking down that busted shade.

I’ll still be reading and commenting on other’s blogs using my back up netbook, but I won’t be able to post.

Hang in there, I’ll be back as soon as I can.  ;c) 

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.