Category Archives: Early Days

Cheeseheads

Yesterday I was up early and posted to the blog. After that I grabbed a breakfast sandwich and coffees at Subway and we hit the road. When we dry camp in a parking lot, it doesn’t take much preparation to drive away. I do a walkaround and make sure all of the compartments are secure, check the trailer and tires and that’s about it.

Speaking of the trailer, the owner’s manual recommends checking the torque on the lug nuts after the first 100 miles and every 1000 miles after that. I’ve read enough stories about lost wheels on various forums and blogs to believe this is a good idea. I’ve checked them a couple of times already. With the torque wrench set to the specified 100ft-lbs it just clicked with no movement of the lug nut, indicating the nuts were tight. Before we left Green Acres Lake Resort, I checked them again. To my surprise, three of the five lug nuts on the right side moved slightly before the torque wrench clicked. I don’t know what it is about trailer wheels that causes lugs to loosen.

Shortly after we started to drive up US30, I stopped for fuel and coffee at a Speedway gas station with lots of room around the pumps. As I pumped fuel, Donna went in to get coffee. She also signed us up for a Speedway rewards program. Donna’s always thinking. I pumped $168 worth of gas into the tank. At this rate, we should earn rewards! I also paid with my Chase Visa card. For the third quarter, July though September, it gives me 5% cash back on gasoline purchases!

I haven’t been looking at the map lately. Donna has taken over the navigation duties. This created an issue after an hour of driving. I had said to Donna that I didn’t want to be anywhere near Chicago. I should have stated this more clearly by saying something like I don’t want to be within a 100-mile radius of Chicago.

She saw US30 as a way to skirt past Chicago but she didn’t realize how much urban sprawl there is in the area. This route took us stoplight to stoplight through Chicago Heights. This would be a very bad place to have a breakdown! The police had surveillance cameras on the sidewalks. After a couple of hours, we’d only covered about 40 miles and finally got on I-80 west and got out of there.

From there we drove on country roads for a while. Our intention was to reach Madison, Wisconsin for another dry camp night and then on to Minneapolis for a week long stay. As always, flexibility is our motto as plans have a way of changing.

We stopped for lunch in a closed truck weigh station. I fired up the generator and charged my laptop, ran the roof AC while Donna heated up leftover chili in the microwave. We both took showers and Donna did a little work on the computer before we got back on our way. The stop took about an hour.

Once underway, Donna began looking for a campsite to book in Minneapolis. This is when we had to change our plan. This weekend there is a festival there and all of the campsites we wanted were booked. Donna booked us into our first choice campground Sunday through next Thursday. Then we had to figure out what to do until Sunday.

We decided to find a campground along the way and just relax for a few days. That brings us to our present location at the KOA in Oakdale, Wisconsin. This is a nice park, a little too close to I-90/94 for our taste but we have a long pullthrough site with full hookups including 50 amp service. I opted to purchase a KOA membership for $24 and got a $12 discount on our stay. If we stay a few more days in KOAs over the next year it will pay off.

They put us in site 2. When we pulled into the site, we both thought it was sub par. No shade and only one site away from the interstate noise. Before I hooked up, I reconnoitered the area. Sites 4 and 5 were superior with shade trees and farther away from the traffic noise. Donna went to the office and asked if we could change sites. They said okay so we are in site 5. We learned it doesn’t hurt to ask!

For dinner, I grilled garlic-rubbed flank steak with chimichurri sauce. As usual Donna did all the work. All I did was heat it and eat it. Yummy.

Grilled garlic-rubbed flank steak with chimichurri sauce

Grilled garlic-rubbed flank steak with chimichurri sauce

After dinner a Royale coach by Monaco, built on a Prevost chassis showed up and parked in the site we were originally in. This million-dollar luxury coach belongs to Steve “Doc” Hopkins. He and his daughter are top fuel motorcycle drag racers. He also owns the Harley Davidson dealership in Shawano County, Wisconsin. They are on their way back from the motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota. A coach like this is something I can only dream of.

Royale Coach by Monaco on a Prevost chassis

Royale Coach by Monaco on a Prevost chassis

We crossed two state lines as we went from Indiana, through Illinois and into Wisconsin. Today I think we’ll scoot over to Humbird Cheese Mart. We are in Wisconsin so we might as well sample cheese! We’ll chill out here until Sunday and then move 200 miles to Prior Lake, just southwest of Minneapolis.

 

Doc's trailer

Doc’s trailer

A Day in the Life

Tuesday, August 6th was our first “working day.” Donna had things to do. She needed to complete a couple of projects. I stayed out of her way in the morning by hauling our laundry to the park’s laundromat. Donna says there’s nothing sexier than a man doing the dishes. I wonder if doing the laundry trumps that. I passed the time by reading a book while enjoying the view of the pond. I’m reading Covert by Bob Delaney – a book Donna’s brother-in-law, Tom lent me.

One of Donna’s projects was to complete her application to be a presenter at the annual conference of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). The application required a short video segment. We set up in the motorhome and shot the video. I’ll link to it later in YouTube.

Donna had a visitor in the afternoon and they took a short hike around the campground. It seems like wherever we are, she knows someone. She is the queen of networking. This paid off in a big way when she was contacted yesterday via Facebook by our mail carrier back in Michigan to let us know that there’s a problem with forwarding our mail. I don’t understand how this happened. Donna submitted the online form and received confirmation via email and mail. And the letter carriers confirmed forwarding information in person. But somehow the post office has no record of our forwarding address. Our regular letter carrier, Betty, has been holding our mail and reached out to Donna yesterday. Donna went online and re-submitted the forwarding information (and paid the fees again).

I wish I could report something exciting about our stay at the Green Acres Lake RV park. It was just a day in the life. Yesterday we packed up. I filled our fresh water tank, stopped at the dump station and hit the road. Fresh water full and holding tanks empty – the only way to fly.

Donna studied the maps and navigated our route. I felt good and put in about 350 easy miles. This brought us to Walmart in Valparaiso, Indiana. 350 miles might not seem like much in your car, but in a rig like ours, it’s a long day. We crossed I-75 about 45 miles south of Toledo – which is 2 hours south of where we started two weeks ago! Getting to Walmart required faith in our GPS – we call her “Nally.” She directed us off US30 into a narrow tree lined street. No Walmart or houses – just trees. The she had us turn on another narrow street that looked like a road to nowhere. We rounded a curve and there it was. We entered the Walmart parking lot from the backside. This turned out to be the simplest way in, otherwise we would have had to exit US30 and do a series of U-turns to access the entrance.

Once we parked we went inside to seek permission for overnight parking. The customer service girls were a little confused by my request – they though I was a trucker parking an 18-wheeler and said it wasn’t allowed. Once they understood I was parking an RV, they told me where to park it. Donna and I took a stroll through the store. I wasn’t sure about the liquor laws in Indiana. I remembered going to a liquor store in Indianapolis before before but didn’t know if Walmart carried beer, wine or liquor.

There it was – a liquor aisle. Walmart sells liquor in Indiana and the price for bourbon is a fair bargain. They had a bourbon I’ve been wanting to sample, Bulleit Bourbon, for less than $30 for 750ml. Makers Mark was only $23. I bought both!

While we were in the store a thunder storm poured rain. It subsided quickly but the heat and humidity remained. It’s in the mid 80s and the humidity is unbearable. We went to a restaurant across the parking lot for an early dinner – made early by the fact we are now in the Central Time Zone. I left windows open and the fantastic fan running in our coach. After we ate, another thunder storm arrived and it rained hard. I was anxious to get back to our coach, I was wondering how much water was coming in through the open windows. The fantastic fan pulls air through a roof vent and it has a rain sensor to automatically shut the vent when it rains. After ten minutes or so the rain stopped, we returned to coach and found a little wetness but no  big deal.

I sampled the bourbons (both are excellent) and we hit the sack early. Today we’ll drive through Illinois and into Wisconsin.

Indbrbn

Westward Ho!

It’s 7am Tuesday morning as I write this. I’m sitting in a campground near Akron, Ohio. Here’s how we got here.

Sunday morning dawned clear and beautiful. We had a goal of leaving by 11am. Donna went for a hike on a trail in the Thompson’s Lake State Park where we were camped. I got started on packing the exterior and getting the coach ready for travel. When Donna returned from her hike she wanted to shower before packing the interior items that she usually handles. We were a little out of sync on the packing duties and I was impatient, wanting to hit the road.

We left the campground shortly after 11am and drove through Schoharie to I-88. The drive was very scenic but also on hilly, narrow roads. I made a wrong turn at one point but we managed to get our rig turned around by remaining calm and waiting for the right opportunity. In this case a school parking lot provided the room needed to get turned around.

I-88 is a nice section of Interstate – very scenic with a smooth road surface and very little traffic. Thunderstorms cropped up, we drove through squalls, sometimes with heavy rainfall and wind. The rain was variable but the wind was relentless.

We stopped a little past noon in Oneonta. Our plan was to go to Brooks BBQ, a local favorite. Donna’s dad had advised us to park in the Price Chopper parking lot down the street from Brooks. When we arrived it started raining again. From the Price Chopper it was a bit of a hike to Brooks so I passed by not wanting to walk that far in the rain. I pulled into the Brooks BBQ parking lot; it was jam packed with cars. I threaded the needle to get turned around and out of there.

Donna spotted a medical clinic next door which appeared to have a parking lot that wrapped around the building. I took a chance and pulled in there. If it didn’t actually wrap around I would be in a real tight spot trying to get out. It turned out to be fine although the lane wrapping around the back of the building was tight.

My choice of smoked pork short ribs was a little disappointing. I tried a taste of Donna’s chicken and realized I’d ordered the wrong dish. The chicken was very good and I recommend it if you ever get to Brooks BBQ in Oneonta, New York.

We were back on the road a little after 1pm. As we drove past the Price Chopper to get back on I-88 Donna spotted a wine and spirit shop. She said, “Why don’t you stop? There’s a big parking lot and you need to stock up.” I didn’t take her advice thinking we’d have opportunities later.

When we left that morning, we didn’t have a real destination – just more of a general direction. We knew we wanted to head down towards Williamsport, Pennsylavania. Then we could hit I-80 west. Donna studied the map (yes, a real paper map). I had her program way points in the GPS so we would have guidance with speed information. Our GPS is RV specific and also considers things like low clearance, weight limits and other restrictions when calculating a route.

Donna used the POI function on the GPS to locate RV friendly overnight parking. We decided to stop at a Walmart Supercenter in Mansfield, Pennsylvania. Donna could see the route on her map; we simply had to continue south on Rt 220 then west on Rt 6. The GPS had us deviate on PA 4014. We had a short debate over which way to go. I decided to follow the GPS. One thing bothered me though. The GPS was no longer talking to me. It was only displaying the directions without any sound.

As soon as I turned on PA 4014, I knew it was a mistake. The road was narrow and just 100 feet down the road was a sign that said “Rough Road – Construction Next 6 Miles.” There wasn’t any way to turn around so I pressed on. Again it was a very scenic route but also very demanding to drive. I didn’t take in much of the scenery. The road was a series of sharp curves punctuated by short, steep climbs and descents. Many of the little bridges on the route had 10-ton limits. We were over the limit and I couldn’t understand why the GPS routed us this way.

By the time we made it to Mansfield, I was worn out. We found an open area to park and went inside to seek permission for overnight parking. It wasn’t a problem. The next item on my list was finding cold beer. I searched the Walmart aisles and didn’t find any. I finally asked a store clerk and was told they can’t sell beer in Pennsylvania. She suggested that I try the little store across the street.

We walked across the street and again didn’t find any beer. I asked at the counter and a young man standing behind me told I had to go back into the town center to the beer distributor. I had a vague memory of strange alcohol laws in Pennsylvania when we came through a couple of years ago touring on our BMW motorcycles.

I was told it was a long walk – maybe 30 to 45 minutes each way. I was thinking about getting the scooter out of the trailer when the guy offered me a ride into town. I accepted and Donna went back to the motorhome.

It turned out to be a fairly long way. If I had opted to walk it would be over 3 miles each way. It was Sunday and the beer distributor was closed. Like me, the guy that offered me the ride was now on a mission. He was determined to find me a six-pack. He took me to a small Mexican restaurant/bar and said I should ask for take-out beer there. Sure enough, they sold me a six-pack of Yuengling to go. This might be the norm in Pennsylvania, but it’s just plain weird anywhere else.

Back at Walmart, Donna fixed us a salad for dinner. Another RV from Quebec parked right behind us. I checked our GPS settings and found the problem. Somehow the settings I had programmed were lost and the default factory settings were on. It listed a rig smaller than ours weighing 20,000 lbs. No wonder the GPS sent us down that road! I re-programmed our actual information and turned the sound back on.

After dinner we discussed our plans for the next day and decided we should stop somewhere with hook-ups. We needed to replenish our fresh water and also do some laundry. I searched on the internet and found a couple of options off of I-76 in Ohio. That would mean a nearly 300-mile day but it looked like a fairly easy route.

RVs overnight at Walmart

RVs overnight at Walmart

We planned to leave by 8am and actually hit the road at 8:05am. The route took us through the Allegheny Mountains. It was an easy drive although the road was almost never flat. It was constant climbs and descents. This is beautiful country and we enjoyed the ride. We stopped for gas and found a station with easy entry and exit. We crossed the highest point on I-80 east of the Mississippi in western Pennsylvania. It was only 2250′ above sea level. We’ll cross much higher summits out west.

We stopped to stretch and walk in a couple of rest areas. One of the RV parks I found on the internet was a Passport America affiliate (we have a membership). The other was a Good Sam affiliate (we have a membership with them also). To get the Passport America 50% discount, this park required a two-night minimum. We decided two nights would be okay. This would allow Donna to get some work done that she needed to do while I could take care of domestic chores.

Donna called ahead and booked a pullthrough site with 50 amp hook-up. When we arrived we found there was electricity and water on the site but no sewer. That means I’ll use the laundromat today and we’ll hit the dump station on the way out.

Our pullthrough site is long but close to the neighbor

Our pullthrough site is long but close to the neighbor

After we were settled in, Donna and I walked down to the swimming pond. Donna swam and I headed back to the coach to shower. On the way I talked to a neighbor. He lives nearby and camps here to get some quiet time. I asked if there was a liquor store nearby. I wanted to re-stock the liquor cabinet with bourbon.

He told me of a couple of possibilities. I showered and then unloaded the scooter. I went to the first place he mentioned and found beer and wine only. I asked a guy in the parking lot and he said “You mean hard stuff like Johnny Walker?” He was skeptical but said I might find it a few miles down the road. I went into the store he told me about and found beer and wine again. I asked the clerk and he said, “Liquor? Around here?” Apparently it was an unusual request. He told me of a possibility that involved riding another 20 to 30 minutes. I gave up and came back to the park.

Next time Donna tells me there’s a wine and spirit shop with ample parking, I’m not passing it up.

 

Clambake

When we bought our motorhome in December 2012, we had no thoughts of going full-time in it. Our intention was to use it to visit friends and family. In January we planned to vacation in upstate New York to attend the Lake Placid Ironman event and visit Donna’s family and friends. That’s what we’ve been doing since we left Michigan.

As I’ve said many times, plans have a way of changing. We  decided to move up my early retirement date and hit the road full time in our motorhome. We have a plan that will take us through the end of the year. Like most first-year full-timers, we will spend too much time and money traveling in the next couple of months.

Yesterday we had a friends and family day. Donna’s dad, Duke Connor, came to our campsite at Thompson’s Lake and picked us up a little after 1pm. We drove to his place in Quaker Street. On the way we stopped at a market in Delanson and picked up 200 Rhode Island littleneck clams that he had ordered.

When we arrived at his house, Donna’s friend from her college days, Lynne, was waiting out front. On the deck in back we found her mother, Lorraine, her aunt Margaret, her brother Mark and his wife and daughter, Miriam and Michelle.

Lynn, Donna and Mark

Lynne, Donna and Mark

I did what I do best – that is, I sat back, relaxed and drank beer while Duke and Mark got the charcoal grill lit. There was a spread of hors d’oeuvres on the table. We snacked and talked. In due time, Mark and Duke had the clams steaming on the grill. More just picked local corn on the cob was cooking in the kitchen.

Duke and Lorraine Connor

Duke and Lorraine Connor

I ate a dozen clams; they were delicious. I was a lightweight compared to Donna and Michelle. At last count Michelle was downing her 58th clam. Lynne drove us back to our site around 5:30pm. Donna gave her a tour of the coach and we visited for a while. Donna and Lynne met in England when they were foreign exchange students in college.

After Lynne left, we had more visitors. Donna’s friend, Joan, and her husband Art came out to see us. Donna and Joan worked together when they were in their 20s. We sat and talked for a couple of hours. Art is a chef so the conversation wasn’t all about reminiscing old times. Donna loves to cook and I like eating so we talked a lot about food. Art shared some interesting ideas including plans for cooking pumpkin leaves. Although they live nearby, Art hadn’t been to Thompson’s Lake before. I think he’ll be back today with his son to drown worms and maybe catch a fish or two.

Today marks the end of our planned “vacation.” From now on, we are really full timing. The vacation plan took us to the northeast. Now we will start to head west. We have a time schedule to meet in the next couple of months before we’ll be able to really settle in a place and live the full-time RV lifestyle as we should.

Our next destination is Minneapolis. I hope to be there by the end of the week. Donna will fly from Minneapolis to New York city for a media tour job. Donna does spokesperson work in addition to her work as an author. She also has family and friends in Minnesota that we hope to connect with. I’ll hang out near Minneapolis while she goes to New York for a couple of days.

From there we will go to South Dakota to establish our domicile. I’ll write about the reasons for choosing South Dakota in another post. Eventually we’ll end up in San Diego in time for my oldest daughter, Alana’s, wedding on September 19th.

With the road schedule ahead, I don’t know if I’ll be able to update the blog daily, but I’ll try. Time to pack up and head west!

Thompson’s Lake

I’m having a little trouble remembering what day of the week it is. I think this is a good thing. My days are no longer ruled by Microsoft Outlook and meetings on the calendar.  Yesterday was Friday, I woke up around 8am. It was a move day so I had to get things done.

Donna packed up the interior while I took care of things outside. I dumped and flushed the holding tanks and we were ready to roll at 11:45am – a little later than I expected. The drive was uneventful except for a couple of traffic tie ups. The last 4 or 5 miles on Rt 156 were steep climbs. The road was narrow and the going was slow.

On the way we stopped at Hannafords supermarket for a few items. Donna bought a few groceries and I bought beer. Donna knew the store and assured me of a large parking lot that I could easily maneuver the coach and trailer in. I love it when she’s right.

Before we left Lake George, we off loaded an upholstered rocking chair and nightstand from the trailer. We hauled these from Michigan to give to Donna’s brother, Mark. They are family keepsakes from Donna’s grandmother. I packed them as carefully as I could considering the trailer was over loaded with stuff. I wrapped both items in furniture blankets, but Donna said there were some slight dings on the chair.

We checked in at Thompson’s Lake State Park and were directed to site 15. I thought I would have to drop the trailer as they said 40′ was their maximum length. When I saw the site I could tell we had more than 40′, so I backed the trailer in and fit our whole rig easily. Coach and trailer combined are about 50′ long. We haven’t dropped the trailer since leaving Michigan 11 days ago.

After I positioned our rig, I got out to check out the hook ups. The Reserve America site said we were reserving a site with 30 amp electricity and fresh water. I found neither in our site. I walked around and looked at a couple of other sites and didn’t see any hook ups. Donna phoned the office and was told there are no hook ups in the park, no electricity except for the public restrooms and no water other than a couple of faucets.

This was pretty disappointing for me. I left lake George with less than half a tank of fresh water – about 25 gallons. I would have filled up if I knew we were dry camping for the next few days. I guess I’m sugar coating it when I say disappointing, I was mad as hell. Donna had her usual calming influence though and we agreed it was just a small bump in the road. It gives us a chance to practice water conservation. No big thing.

The park is full with mostly families camping. Adjacent to our site is a basketball court and a volleyball net. I wondered how noisy it would be. There were kids and young adults playing, and other than a few people using our site as a shortcut to the courts it wasn’t a problem. Cutting through someone’s campsite is poor etiquette though, right?

Donna’s mother, Lorraine, drove out here for a visit. Donna’s parents live about 12 miles away from the park. Lorraine stayed for dinner. I grilled curried shrimp and corn on the cob. Donna and Lorraine took a walk down to the beach area. When they returned. they told me I had to have a look at what’s going on a few sites down from ours. At that site there were a few cars. Apparently the campers had visitors. A woman driving a Volvo pulled in to park there and didn’t realize there was a ditch between the road and campsite. She pulled in next to a car parked at the site entrance and drove right into the ditch! When I walked by there were 7 or 8 people standing around the car, arms crossed and scratching their chins looking at the front wheels dangling over the ditch. Later I saw the car had been extricated.

Today we’ll go visit Donna’s parents. Her brother, Mark and family will also be  there.

Thompson's Lake

Thompson’s Lake

A Day at the Races

Thursday morning we slept in. It was after 8am when I woke up. I’m getting used to retirement! Actually, Thursday was my first official day of retirement, I was using vacation time in July. First pension check deposited to my account!

I sat at the table and posted to the blog. We planned to go the horse races at Saratoga with Donna’s sister, Linda, and her husband Tom at 10am. Somehow the time got away from us and we were scrambling to get showered and dressed. We left around 10:20am. We were supposed to meet Donna’s brother, Mark, his wife Miriam and daughter Michelle at 11am. We made it on time thanks to Tom’s lead foot driving.

Srtga

Thoroughbred racing has been going on in Saratoga Springs since 1863. The facility was built in 1864. It’s a great place. We had reserved seats in the clubhouse thanks to Mark.

With Donna at Saratoga

With Donna at Saratoga

The first two races were steeplechase events. These are long races (2+miles) and involve the horse and rider jumping over fences. In the first race, a rider toppled from the horse on the back stretch. I hope he’s okay. I picked up the racing form and studied the expert advice. I’m not in the habit of going to horse racing. It’s been at least 20 years since I last attended a horse race. When I lived in San Diego, I would occasionally go to the races at Del Mar.

I played Exacta bets – this type of bet requires you to pick first and second place. I won the fourth race, but at the end of the day, I was just a contributor to the pari-mutuel pool. Donna introduced a new food to me – Montreal poutine. These are French fries with gravy and cheese curd. Very tasty. We also had Manhattan clam chowder.

beertnt

There were beer gardens at the site and live music as well. Unfortunately shortly after we arrived it started to rain and the temperature dropped. Donna was cold and left with Tom and Linda after the 6th race. I stayed with Mark, Miriam and Michelle but we also decided to leave after the 7th race.

bnd

Back at the campground, I grilled Key West chicken and Tom roasted local corn on the cob. Tasty! They stopped at a bakery on the way back and picked up dessert – cannoli, eclairs and cookies.

It was a great way to kick off my retirement and I’m ready to get used to living like this.

Today we’ll move to Thompson Lake.

DMsrtga

Changing Plans

We’re still at the Great Escape RV Park in Lake George. Yesterday we decided the extend our stay here until Friday. I didn’t post yesterday so I need to catch up.

Tuesday we thought about tubing the Schroon River but it became overcast and a little breezy in the afternoon. We made it a mostly lazy day. Donna used the laundromat onsite to get all of the laundry done. We have a Splendide washer/dryer combo in our motorhome. It works well but can only handle small loads. We had towels and whatnot from our clean-up of the gray water incident as well as bicycling clothing stored in suitcases that got wet. Using two machines at the laundromat allowed us to get all of our laundry done in a matter of less than two hours.

Donna whipped up a salad from leftovers for lunch. She can put together the most amazing dishes.

LKGlnch

Donna’s sister, Linda, and brother-in-law, Tom, have mountain bikes here. They’re camped across the road from us in their fifth wheel trailer. I borrowed Tom’s bike and rode around the campground. This is a large park – 178 acres with 575 sites. There’s a mile of Schroon River frontage. I enjoyed cruising around, people watching and checking out some of the RVs.

We got together with with Tom and Linda and grilled chicken and zucchini for dinner. Altogether a very relaxing day.

LKGdin

Wednesday, July 31st was officially my last day of employment. Technically I’m on vacation and my retirement starts August 1st. We planned to move to Thompson Lake State Park but plans have a way of changing. The day dawned bright and clear and we still wanted to go tubing on the Schroon River. Thursday we will join Donna’s brother, Mark, and his wife, Miriam, at the horse races in Saratoga. Thinking about this, it made sense for us to stay here in Lake George. We can catch a ride to Saratoga with Tom and Linda instead of having Mark drive way out of his way to Thompson Lake to pick us up.

I rode Tom’s bike to the campground office to extend our stay. This turned out to be more complicated than I thought. The girl at the counter said our site was only open for one more day. I needed to extend at least two more days or we couldn’t go to the races. She said she could extend one day in our site then we would have to move. It was a little hard for me to understand why I had to move. There were open sites and it seemed like she could re-arrange a reservation with a few keystrokes on the computer. I guess managing 575 sites might be more complicated than that.

Instead of staying in our site one more day then moving for a one night stay, we opted to move now and settle in to a new site for two days. The move was all of 150 feet from site 653 to site 660. This took about an hour. We had to unhook, pack, pull the slides in then drive the loop to the new site, hook up, level the coach and put the slides back out. It was a hassle but it was worth it.

By the time we finished, cloud cover returned and it felt a little too cool to be tubing in the cold river water. We spent the afternoon relaxing. Donna and I took bike rides around the park. For dinner I grilled cedar planked steelhead trout. We toasted my last day of “work” and are ready for the road ahead.

LKGslmn

We capped the day with a trip into town for ice cream.

Today we’re off to Saratoga to bet on the ponies.

 

Conestoga

On some of the blogs I follow, people have names for their RV. I’ve never been one to name my vehicles, but we’ve been trying to come up with a name. This morning I woke up thinking about our trip out west coming up. I thought about the settlers heading west in their Conestoga wagons. I think we’ll call our RV “Connie” as it’s our modern day version of the Conestoga wagon heading west with all of our possessions aboard. What do you think?

Photo, caption and description below courtesy of Wikipedia

Painting depicting a Conestoga wagon

The Conestoga wagon is a heavy, covered wagon that was used extensively during the late 18th century and the 19th century in the United States and Canada. It was large enough to transport loads up to 8 tons (7 metric tons), and was drawn by horses, mules or oxen. It was designed to help keep its contents from moving about when in motion and to aid it in crossing rivers and streams, though it sometimes leaked unless caulked…

Yesterday was a move day. We were still trying to dry things from the disaster the day before. It poured rain overnight. This didn’t help with the things we had hanging to dry.

In the morning, I rode the scooter to the FedEx office in the village to overnight the title to my BMW motorcycle. I’m really happy that it sold; it’s been on consignment at the BMW dealership for a few months. Donna’s Beemer sold after couple of weeks there.

Packing up to move took a lot of time. I had to rearrange much of the trailer before I could load the scooter. We didn’t hit the road until 1PM. We followed Rt 73 out of Lake Placid through Keene Valley to I-87 (the Adirondack Northway). The first section of 73 to the village of Keene has a few steep downgrades. This was part of the Ironman cycling course. Driving 11+ tons of RV requires attention when going downhill. I used lower gears to utilize engine braking and braked with the service brakes as necessary to maintain the desired speed. The worst thing to do is to ride the brakes all the time, they will overheat and become ineffective.

We arrived at the Lake George Escape Campground a couple of hours later. While we were on the road, I realized I hadn’t eaten anything except for a cup of Greek yogurt all day. In our estate sale, I sold pants that were tight fitting and only kept a few with a 36″ waist size. After one week on the road these are loose and falling down. I’ll be wearing 34″ again very soon!

We checked in and found that Donna’s brother-in-law, Tom, had set us up with a nice pull-through site. The Lake George Escape Campground is a large private facility with all of the amenities. We have full hookups with 50 amp service and cable TV. The site is large, level and the trees and shrubs make it relatively private. We booked our stay here several months ago and neither Donna or I can remember what we paid; we’ll have to check our records.

We’re thinking about tubing on the river today. The campground is located on the Schroon River which runs from Schroon Lake to the Hudson River. We plan to make today a mostly lazy day as we had a fairly busy time in Lake Placid.

Tomorrow we’ll move to Thompson’s Lake State Park where we’ll visit with Donna’s parents, her brother Mark’s family and some old friends (she grew up and lived in the area for many years).

Tough Day in Lake Placid

Yesterday the Ironman event was held here in Lake Placid. This grueling event combines timed swimming (2.4 miles), cycling (112 miles) and running (26.2 miles). Our friend, Allen Hutchinson, competed. He’s been training for about 18 months and competed in half triathlons in the past. This was his first full Ironman event.

Allen set reasonable expectations. When asked what goal he set for the race he said he would like to beat the average time which is over 13 hours. Donna and I didn’t see the swim event as the race starts very early and there was a light rain falling. We followed Allen’s time splits online and knew he hit his swim goal of 1 hour 10 minutes.

When I saw his 30 mile bike split time, I knew he was flying but didn’t know if he could sustain the pace through the next 82 miles which included significant climbs. Donna and I went to the course to cheer about 30 minutes before we expected to see Allen come though town. He surprised us by coming through 10 minutes after we arrived.

The streets were lined with spectators, all of them cheering the competitors. We walked over to Donna’s sister, Pam’s, house and visited for a awhile. Donna decided she would walk the three miles back to our place while I scootered back.

Upon my return I removed my helmet and could hardly believe my eyes. Water was coming out of one of the bays behind the right rear tire. I opened the bay and it was full of water dripping down from above. I ran inside the coach, the bathroom floor was flooded with water coming out of the shower stall. I quickly went back outside to the left side of the coach and opened the gray water drain valve.

When I came back in to the bathroom, it didn’t look like the shower was draining very fast. I looked at all of the faucets to see if something was left open, filling the gray water holding tank. I was puzzled as no faucets were dripping. I went back out and turned the water inlet valve from outside water to the freshwater tank position so the plumbing would no longer have pressure.

By now the shower had drained and I began mopping up. Luckily I arrived just as the bathroom floor was filling with water and it didn’t get into the rest of the coach. As I was mopping, I was trying to think of the cause of the flood when I heard and felt a loud pop in the floor. Hmmm…what was that? Then it happened again.

I dashed outside again and opened the bay where the fresh water tank is. When I diverted the incoming freshwater to the tank I neglected to open the vent valves. The tank was blowing up like a balloon and pressing on the floor of the coach. I quickly opened both valves and wondered what else could go wrong. I inspected what I could see of the tank and it didn’t appear to be damaged. One of the level sensors had a few drops of water around it but didn’t leak once the pressure was relieved.

In the middle of all this Donna sent me a text message stating she was on her way here. I replied “disaster here.” I set up a fan and space heater and continued to clean up. When Donna arrived she went to the fire station and borrowed a wet/dry shop vac. I finally figured out the source of the water. Before we left Donna started a load of laundry, neither of us thought about how much water that dumps into the gray water tank or what the current state of the tank was. Lesson learned. I was wound up tight for hours. Water damage is an RVers worst nightmare.

Meanwhile out on the course Allen was continuing his fast pace. His average speed for the bike portion was a hair under 18 MPH. On a hilly course this is excellent. I knew he would be strong in the run.

After all of the clean up work I was sweaty and felt not so clean. We had dinner plans with friends so Donna and I showered and changed clothes. We planned to go into the village to cheer Allen on during his final leg of the run. Just as we were beginning to leave it started raining again. Donna stayed back and finished tidying up the place instead of riding in the rain while I scootered into town.

The village was crazy — streets lined with cheering spectators, competitors straining to reach the finish. I looked for Allen. I walked over to the Prague Motor Inn and looked for his wife, Crystal. When I couldn’t find her I realized Allen must have already come through and she would be at the finish line.

I walked back to my scooter and rode over to the stadium where they finish the event. It was an absolute zoo. Masses of people, supporters and athletes milling about everywhere. I gave up trying to find them. I phoned Crystal but didn’t get answer. It was no surprise considering the noise.

I returned “home” and looked up Allen on the Ironman site. He finished well ahead of expectations with a total time of 11 hours, 40 minutes and 48 seconds. It was an outstanding performance, even more impressive when you consider that it was his first full triathlon. He competes in the 40-44 age division which is probably one of the toughest. His time placed him 98th in the division.He was 480th overall in a race against 2800 competitors. I’m impressed and proud to know him.

We finished off what turned out to be a tough day on the Ironman circuit and a tough day in the RV by joining friends for dinner. We ate at the Whiteface Lodge in Lake Placid with Wendy, Ian, Karen and Bernie. Good food, good conversation with good friends was a great way to end the day.

Today we’ll pack up and drive to Lake George to join Donna’s sister, Linda, and her husband Tom.

More From Lake Placid

The Iron Man event takes place today. In fact it’s 7am as I write and the competitors are already in the water for the 2.4 mile swim. But I’ll write about that tomorrow, this morning I need to catch up on the last couple of days.

Friday morning Gene and I went out in his boat on Lake Placid intending to do a little fishing. As we cruised across the lake, Gene filled me in on a little of the history and the layout of the lake. Suddenly the outboard engine started making unusual noises and lost power. We turned around to limp back to the boat launch, but soon the engine quit running.

It seemed like a fuel delivery problem to me and I began to investigate. After a while another boater saw that we were powerless and offered a tow which we gladly accepted. While we were being towed, I continued to look for the problem and found a pinhole in the fuel line under the cowl. The pinhole was allowing the fuel pump to draw air, so the engine ran lean and then quit.

The good news is that I saw some of the lake and the issue with engine is an easy fix, but our tour was cut short and we didn’t get a chance to fish.

Donna and I went into the village and it was really hopping. Sidewalks filled with people, streets filled with cars, bicycles, runners and scooter (yes, we had the only scooter that we saw in town). There was a large vendor area with a platform the could raise and lower. Under the platform was a large inflatable cushion. Kids were lined up for the opportunity to jump from the platform and land in the cushion! No thank you.

The Platform

The Platform

Jump!

Jump!

 

Friday night we were invited to dinner at Wendy and Ian Poole’s house. Donna’s old friends, Karen and Diane, were also invited along with their husbands, Bernie and Patrick. We had cocktails, good conversation and good food. It was a great dinner party. Our contribution to the dinner was a bottle of wine – “Triple Overtime” from Igor Larionov’s winery, signed by the man himself.

Bernie and Karen drove us home but first we stopped at their place for a nightcap and tour of their house. It’s a beautiful place that Bernie built.

Yesterday I had good news from Detroit BMW. They sold my R1200RT motorcycle! Tomorrow I’ll sign off the title and send to them via FedEx overnight.

Wendy and Ian invited us to go boating on Saranac Lake. The village of Saranac Lake is about seven miles from Lake Placid and is slightly larger with about 6,000 residents. The lake itself is actually comprised of three lakes – Upper, Middle and Lower Saranac Lake. We were on Lower Saranac Lake. About half of the shoreline of this lake is public property. The islands are also state land and have reservable camp sites on them.

Cove on Lower Saranac Lake

Cove on Lower Saranac Lake

We had lunch on the boat anchored in  a small cove. Wendy made some delicious wraps. We talked and enjoyed the scenery and each other’s company and then took a short swim to cool off. It was a very pleasant way to spend a beautiful day.

Delicious lunch on Ian's boat

Delicious lunch on Ian’s boat

Last evening Allen Hutchinson, his wife Crystal and their three daughters joined us for dinner. I grilled jerk chicken with mango salsa (which Donna prepared). We also had a green bean and fennel salad and brown rice. We spent a couple of hours at the picnic table eating and talking. They’re a lovely family.

Donna and the Hutchinson family

Donna and the Hutchinson family

I hope Allen is doing well in the swim right now. It’s raining, 62 degrees and cloudy. The rain shouldn’t affect his swim but I hope it stops before he begins the ride. He expected to complete the 2.4 mile swim in ~70 minutes so he’ll be transitioning to the bike soon. We’ll go watch the bike portion.

That’s what we’ve been up to. Tomorrow we’ll move to Lake George to camp alongside Donna’s sister Linda and her husband Tommy.

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