Category Archives: Spyder

All Work, No Play

We’ve been enjoying our stay with Donna’s parents near Old Bennington, Vermont. That’s not to say we haven’t had to handle a few projects – I’ll get to that in a moment. We’re parked on their property with a view of Mount Anthony from our door step.

View of Mount Anthony from our door step on the Connor’s property

Before we came here, I needed to replace our bank of four 6-volt house batteries. I ordered four Lifeline AGM batteries on Tuesday, June 5th, in Watkins Glen. I was told by the seller, Powerstride Sales, that I would have the batteries by the end of the week. Well, that didn’t happen and we had to change the shipping address to Donna’s parents’ house. I was told they would arrive there by Thursday, the 14th. At that time, I was in Binghamton fixing the overheating issue, so it didn’t really matter when they didn’t show up. I tracked them and they were in the Estes Distribution Center in nearby Glenmont, NY just outside of Albany. I figured they would be out for delivery on Friday.

When I arrived Friday night, they hadn’t showed up. On Saturday, I received an e-mail from Estes telling me that since the shipment was going to a residential address, they needed to set an appointment time to be sure I was there to receive it. It went on to say they would contact me in one or two business days to set the appointment! They were closed on the weekend, so I couldn’t do anything until Monday.

I rode the Spyder to Bennington Saturday and bought a brisket at Price Chopper. This grocery store had butchers in the meat department. I asked the butcher if he had a brisket flat that was about five pounds. He said he thought so and went into the back. A few minutes later, he came out and put a hunk of flat (HOF) on the scale – 4.97 lbs! How’s that for close to five pounds!

I set up the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker grill next to the garage. On Sunday morning at 5:30am, I had the HOF on the grill smoking. I smoked it for two hours before I raised the temperature setting to 200 degrees for the next four hours. I spritzed it with a spray bottle filled with a can of beer, two ounces of apple cider vinegar and two tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce every hour. When the internal temperature of the HOF held at 160 degrees, I wrapped it in foil and put it back on the grill.

A couple of hours later, it was at an internal temperature of 198 degrees so I took it off the grill. I left it tightly wrapped in the foil, wrapped two towels around it and stuffed it into the microwave oven. Keeping it insulated in a tightly confined space held the heat and the meat continued to cook as it slowly cooled. A few hours later it was ready to serve. It came out tender. I think it could have been juicier, but it was good.

Donna’s sister Linda and her husband Tommy came over. The six of us plus Tommy and Linda’s grandson Michael dined al fresco. It was great way to celebrate Father’s Day.

I know it looks like a charred piece of meat, but it’s tender smoked brisket hunk of flat

On Monday morning, I called Estes Freight. They had the batteries in Glenmont. I arranged to pick up the batteries there at 12:30pm. Tommy offered to drive me there in his truck to retrieve them. The woman I talked to said they would be ready at the loading dock.

When we arrived, I checked in at the dispatch desk. The guy told me it would take a few minutes and he told me where they would load the shipment. Tommy and I waited outside by the loading ramp. And waited. About 20 minutes later, a guy came out and said they had to move a trailer that the batteries were in, then he could bring them out on a forklift, but it would take a few more minutes before he could do that. Meanwhile Tommy and I watched the way they moved trailers around the distribution center with a specially equipped truck.

The truck was designed to quickly connect and disconnect from the trailers. It had a rear entry that allowed the driver to step out on the rear deck to connect the air lines. The coupler plate was hydraulically actuated so he could raise the front of the trailer, bringing the front jacks off the ground. Once he moved the trailer to the dock or wherever, he lowered the coupler plate until the trailer rested on the jacks and quickly disconnected and drove away to the next move.

Our wait of a few minutes turned into nearly 40 minutes, but the guy finally came out with 300 pounds of batteries on the forklift and gently lowered the skid into the back of Tommy’s truck and we were on our way.

I got started on the battery change around 2:30pm. First I had to pull the old wet cell lead-acid batteries. These are heavy.

Old battery bank – the house batteries are the ones with the black tops – the blue batteries are the chassis batteries for starting the motor

The new batteries weighed 66 pounds each. I took them off the shipping skid one at a time and then removed them from the shipping box and put them straight into the battery bay. Luckily, the new Lifeline batteries came with handles secured to the battery top with rope. This helped, but getting them into the bay involved bending over and extending my arms with the 66-pound load. Whew!

Lifeline AGM battery with lifting handles

The new batteries are AGM technology – advanced Absorbed Glass Mat. They don’t require any maintenance – no more adding distilled water and no more cleaning with baking soda as the acid accumulates on the batteries.

I also had ordered new 1/0 wire gauge foot-long cables with 5/16″ ring connectors to link the batteries. The bank is made up by wiring two batteries in series. This makes them into a 12-volt battery – it sums the voltage while the amp-hour rating remains at 220. With two sets of batteries wired in series, they are then joined in a parallel circuit. This keeps the voltage at 12-volts but it sums the amp-hour rating. Now I had a 12-volt battery bank with 440 amp-hours.

New battery bank

I was feverishly working to beat a thunderstorm that was coming. Once I had everything wired together, I double checked the connections. Then I went to start the generator to charge the batteries. No go. The generator wouldn’t crank and the start button LED began flashing. It would flash three times, then pause and flash three times again. Code three. There are three basic or first level codes. One flash means overheat. Two flashes means low oil pressure. Three flashes for all other faults – not much to go on there. By momentarily pressing the stop button, you can read the advanced or second level code. Now it flashed four times, paused and flashed six times. Code 46. This means low voltage at the generator.

I went back to the battery bank and started checking my connections again. By then the storm hit, but I was determined to solve the problem and got soaked over the next hour. Eventually I found that two ring connectors on the 2/0 gauge positive leads to the inverter and generator were corroded and had excessive voltage drop – I didn’t replace these longer cables when I changed the batteries. I figured removing the connectors from the old battery and installing them on the new had disturbed the internal bond between the cable and connector. I needed to cut the cable which is made of hundreds if not thousands of strands of copper covered with a heavy plastic insulator. Once I cut the cable back, I would expose clean copper and I could crimp a new ring connector on. The problem was, I didn’t have anything to cleanly cut the cable or crimp such a heavy connector. Now we were in worse shape than before – I couldn’t even run the generator!

2/0 ring connector – a quarter is in the photo for size comparison

On Tuesday morning, I went to Tractor Supply and bought an 18-inch bolt cutter, perfect for cutting the heavy cables. The bolt cutter also had a dimpled stop behind the pivot that I could use to crimp the ring connector. The heavy copper ring connectors were really stiff and hard to crimp. Once I had that done on the cables in question, the generator fired up and the Xantrex Freedom 458 inverter began charging the battery bank. I had to change the three-stage charging profile to match the AGM batteries. The Xantrex has four charging programs – one for standard wet cell batteries, two for gel type batteries and the fourth was for AGM. There are small differences in each charging profile that optimize the charge.

After a few hours, the batteries were good to go. We had good 12-volt power and the inverter was providing steady 120-volt AC power. I felt pretty good about it.

Later that evening, Donna and I were sitting the living room talking when we heard a whoosh and what sounded to me like ice cubes hitting the floor. It was water gushing from the fresh water supply to the toilet! I jumped up and shut down the water pump as Donna threw towels on the floor and began sopping the water up.

I found the water supply cut-off valve had failed. It’s a plastic 90-degree elbow with a quarter turn valve in it. The plastic separated at the valve and it blew apart! Well, now we had electricity but no water. I had a stiff drink and went to bed.

This morning, I rode the Spyder to Home Depot in Bennington and searched their PEX plumbing hardware. I couldn’t find the replacement shut-off valve, but I found a brass 90-degree elbow with 1/2″ PEX fittings on both ends. This would do. It was an easy fix and all is good now. PEX is really easy to work with.

We met up with Donna’s parents, Duke and Lorraine, and Tommy and Linda at TJ’s Fish Fry for lunch. We sat together and enjoyed the meal. Tomorrow we’ll pull out and continue our trek to Maine. I think we’ll make it to Cabela’s in Scarborough, Maine and spend the night there.

I’ll close this post with a picture of the front of the Father’s Day card from my mother-in-law, Lorraine.

 

Roadside Assistance

I closed my last post saying we were waiting for Coach-Net Roadside Assistance to send a tow truck Wednesday morning. They were on top of it – they called me to first say they had found a qualified shop for the repair. Later they called and told me a tow truck was dispatched and should arrive in about 90 minutes. Actually two trucks were coming – one for the coach and one for the trailer.

The tow truck driver phoned and said he was delayed slightly and would be about 30 minutes late. They showed up and set to work. First I had to unhook the trailer, then I needed to get the coach turned around. The road had curves coming from both directions, so they stationed their trucks with emergency lights flashing in the road, blocking traffic from either direction while I turned us around.

The tow truck for the coach was a big heavy-duty Peterbilt. Once they had the front wheels secured in the cradles and lifted to the coach, they had to get underneath to disconnect the drive shaft. You can’t tow with the rear wheels down with the shaft connected. If you do, the transmission output shaft will spin but it won’t be lubricated because the pump works off of the input shaft which only turns when the engine is running.

On the tow truck – the guys are disconnecting the drive shaft

It was a long, slow ride to Binghamton. We retraced our route for several miles, then got on I-81. Traveling on highway 206, we came down some of the grades we climbed the day before. I rode with the driver in the big tow truck while Donna rode in the pickup truck towing our trailer.  Ozark the cat stayed in the coach in her crate. Later, I told Donna she was lucky to ride in the comfort of the pickup truck. The Peterbilt tow truck rode rough and the big Caterpillar engine was so noisy, it was hard to carry on any conversation. The jake brake on that thing rattled my eardrums.

The nice thing about roadside assistance is they find the provider and pay for the tow. This was a very expensive tow since we were so far out in the countryside. I won’t complain about paying the annual Coach-Net membership fee – they covered the bill to the tune of $1900. It was $1300 for the coach and $600 for the trailer!

Coach-Net determines who the nearest qualified shop is and that’s where they take you. If you want to go somewhere else, get your wallet out. They took us to Stadium International in Binghamton. I went inside and met Dave, our service guy. It didn’t go too well. Right off the bat, he said he couldn’t look at our coach until Friday, possibly Thursday. He advised me to rent a car and find a hotel. Not what I wanted to hear. The bad thing about roadside assistance is they choose the nearest qualified shop!

After a while I talked to another guy, Richard. He runs the night shift – they’re open until midnight. He agreed to order the hydraulic oil filters – I asked if they could change those first as it may solve the problem and it’s not a difficult or time-consuming task.

Donna found us a room at the Red Roof Inn. One of the go-fers from the shop drove her there with Ozark the cat and all of the stuff we thought we would need for the next few days. I followed on the Spyder. At the hotel, we met an interesting bunch of guys that had been staying there Monday through Friday for the last five years! They’re part of a construction crew working on the interstate bridge project and have a couple more years to go before completion.

The shop got the filters and they set about changing them Thursday morning. The mechanic was unfamiliar with the system and I had to tell him where the filters are located – they’re in the bottom of the fluid reservoir.

After filter change, I was out of luck. The fan still didn’t operate correctly. The service guy, Dave, said they could diagnose further, but he wouldn’t be able to get to it until next Tuesday! I explained to him that if we needed parts, such as a hydraulic motor for the fan, they were difficult to find. I found a place in England called White House Products, LTD that had seven units in stock. For a fee, they could have them here in three business days. That meant that if we had to wait until Tuesday to see if that’s what I needed, it would be a full week before we had our hands on the part. He said I could take it up with Jim. I asked who Jim was and he said he was the manager.

I had a short meeting with Jim. He was non-committal, but said he would see what he could work out. I left before noon. Later I rode the Spyder back to the shop – I had forgotten my blood pressure meds. Jim told me they found the problem. He said the thermostat for the fan located in the radiator was bad and he didn’t think he could find one. I knew what he was talking about – I told him it was called a wax valve and I thought I might be able to find one online.

The wax valve in this system controls the fan speed without the use of electronic controls. It’s strictly a mechanical system and usually very reliable. The hydraulic fluid flows through an orifice in the wax valve. There’s a tapered rod with a piston on the end inside the valve – shaped somewhat like a nail with a thick head. The piston resides in a cylinder filled with wax in a closed chamber. A spring on the opposite side forces the piston against the wax. In this position, the orifice is open and fluid bypasses the fan motor through the wax valve.

When the wax  valve is heated by the coolant, the wax begins to melt and expand. It pushes the piston forcing the tapered needle into the orifice.   As the orifice becomes restricted, it bypasses less and more fluid flows through the fan motor and it speeds up. When the orifice is completely closed, the fan is running at high speed.

Around 2005 or 2006, most motorhome manufacturers went away from this simple and usually reliable system and went to an electrical/mechanical valve with an electronic controller. These have proven to be troublesome.

Back to my story. I searched online and found the wax valve was back ordered at White House Products, LTD. They had 55 units coming, but couldn’t say for sure when they would have them. I contacted another place in Oregon called Source Engineering. They sell a kit for Monaco  coaches to retrofit the newer electronic system back to the wax valve system when it inevitably fails. He had kits and told me he could probably supply a valve in a week or two. His recommendation was to disconnect the hydraulic lines from the valve and cap them, stopping all bypass flow and the fan would run on high speed continuously.

I knew this would work, but I wondered if we would run too cool on level roads when the load wasn’t very high. Of course the coolant thermostat wouldn’t open until the coolant hit 180 degrees, so theoretically we should run at least 180 degrees which is acceptable.

I relayed this information to Jim at Stadium International. He agreed that capping the lines would work. He said that was how they determined for sure the wax valve was bad – they capped the lines temporarily and the fan ran at high speed. He used brass fittings for this and said if he was going to send me down the road with a makeshift repair, he had to find stainless steel fittings because he didn’t think the brass would hold up. I asked him to go ahead and he said he would have it done by noon.

Meanwhile, Donna’s sister had to go to Albany for a meeting on Thursday. She offered to drive down to Binghamton and take her to Bennington, Vermont to their parents’ house. We were thinking at that time that we were looking at a full week or more in the hotel room. I figured there was no need for us both to share that misery. But then, it looked like I could be on the road Friday afternoon. This left me with a logistical problem. I had more stuff in the hotel room than I could transport on the Spyder.

I talked to the hotel owner and settled on a late checkout time of 2pm. I figured I would take what I could on the Spyder and once the coach was ready, drive it back to the hotel to load Ozark the cat and her litter box along with my suitcase.

It turned out the coach wasn’t done at noon. They had trouble finding the fittings needed, but they had them around 12:30pm and were working on it. Dave helped me solve the hotel dilemma. He had their go-fer drive me to the hotel in their parts van and I loaded everything from the room right at 2pm and he drove me back.

They had finished the work by then. I had already loaded the Spyder in the trailer and transferred the stuff from the van. Dave told me I should take the coach for a test drive while he finished the paperwork. I knew it would be fine – the fan kicked in at high speed as soon as I started it up. I drove it and the coolant temperature hit 182 degrees and held. There were no leaks. I was good to go.

I headed out around 3pm. The traffic wasn’t bad but the road surface on I-88 in New York is atrocious. When I hit Albany, the traffic thickened. Going through Troy was bumper-to-bumper misery. The coolant temperature stayed cool the whole way. On a long grade near Central Bridge, it only went up to 184 degrees. It was a cool day, but I think even on a hot day, I won’t see over 190 degrees. As soon as I can, I’ll get a new wax valve and complete the repair myself.

I pulled into the yard at Donna’s parents house around 7pm. I was exhausted. Her parents, Duke and Lorraine, have three acres just outside of Old Bennington, Vermont. We’ll moochdock in their yard. I have to change out our house batteries here, but that’s a story for another time.

 

 

Grist Iron and Two Goats

On Friday afternoon, Donna and I rode the Spyder up highway 414 on the east side of Seneca Lake past several wineries. We stopped at Grist Iron Brewing for a cold one. This is a very nice brew pub in an awesome setting. They have a great view of the lake, large grounds and an inn with 14 rooms. Their brewmaster has to be one busy guy – they only have a 15-barrel system and half a dozen fermenters. Four of the fermenters are 30-barrel, so they can ferment double batches. Even a double batch only results in 50 kegs of beer or so. Their beer is sold at some of the restaurants and bars in the area, so that’s not a lot of volume to meet demand.

Restroom signage at Grist Iron Brewing

Their property is located on the east side of the highway but it still gives a nice view of the lake

Pond and lake view from Grist Iron Brewing

We chatted with one of the bartenders for a while, then we rode a few miles up the road to Two Goats Brewing. This brewery is on the west side of the highway. Their brew system is only half the size of Grist Iron – 7.5 barrels. Somehow they manage to keep six to eight different beer styles on tap. The view from the deck behind their small pub is grapevines and Seneca Lake.

View from the deck at Two Goats Brewing

Looking across the vineyards at the lake reminded me of terraced vineyards in the Cinque Terre region of Italy, overlooking the Ligurian Sea.

On the ride back to Watkins Glen, I pulled over and shot a photo of Hector Falls – it’s right next to the highway.

Hector Falls

We rode into town to the farmers’ market at Lafayette Park. It’s too early in the season though – there were only half a dozen booths there. Donna bought beet greens there – she’s planning to make beans and greens with crab cakes for dinner tonight.

On Saturday, the water looked calm, so Donna got the Sea Eagle kayak out of the trailer. She’s become proficient at setting it up and putting the cart together to get it to the water. She took it to the canal and paddled up the Barge Canal to Glen Creek. I stayed back at the coach and watched the qualifying for the Formula One Grand Prix of Canada.

For dinner, Donna rubbed skin-on bone-in chicken thighs with a mixture of olive oil and chopped garlic, rosemary, basil, and thyme and I grilled them in the evening. I have to say, they came out darn near perfect. The skin was crispy and the meat tender and moist at an internal temperature of 165 degrees – I used an instant read meat thermometer.

This morning Donna is out for a quick spin on her bike. Later, her old college roommate, Kathy Romans Shay, is coming down from Canandaiga with her daughters. They plan to go out for brunch at the Stonecat Cafe. I’ll be watching the Formula One race.

Sunset over the south end of Seneca Lake

We’ve had nice weather with the temperature reaching the mid- to upper 70s the past couple of days. When clouds block the sun, it sure feels cooler than that though. The forecast for the next couple of days calls for warm temperatures – near 80. We’ll pull out of Watkins Glen on Tuesday.

 

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Historic Watkins Glen Raceway

Wednesday, our first full day in Watkins Glen, was a cold and dreary day. I didn’t do much besides read a book and research some supplies I’ll need next week for my battery project. The four Lifeline AGM batteries I ordered will be shipped to Donna’s parents’ house in Bennington, Vermont. I expect them to get there next Wednesday – we’ll be there by then. I’m also ordering some new cables and connectors.

It stopped raining in the afternoon, but remained cool. The high temperature for the day was 62, but with the wind and cloud cover, it felt colder. Trucks rumbled into the boat launch area all day. They were dumping soil and gravel and made a huge mound of dirt. In the late afternoon, Donna went for a hike on a portion of the Finger Lakes Trail that borders the Catharine Creek Marsh.

When she returned, she made a skillet meal. It was just the thing for a dreary day. Skillet recipes are usually fairly quick and easy – and don’t leave a lot of dirty dishes from preparation. It was a new recipe that she’s calling Quick Chicken Enchilada Skillet Casserole.

Skillet enchilada casserole

Dished out on a plate it was like a de-constructed enchilada.

Skillet chicken enchilada casserole plate

It was a hearty and nutritious meal. And it took less than 25 minutes to prepare and cook.

On Thursday morning, we were greeted with sunshine and the promise of a warmer day. Trucks continued to rumble past the campground, but I noticed now they were being filled with dirt from the huge mound near the boat launch. There was a large loader with a giant bucket filling truckload after truckload. I went over there and asked one of the drivers waiting in line to be filled what was up. They’re delivering the dirt to a construction site in town. The wet weather on Tuesday and Wednesday interrupted the delivery – one of the roads they have to traverse was too soft for the load. So, they dumped everything here and now they’re shuttling it to the construction site.

Donna went out for a ride on her knock-around bike. I call it a knock-around because it’s an inexpensive mountain bike hybrid that she bought from a guy at Viewpoint in Mesa, Arizona for $25. I lubed it and made a few adjustments after she bought it and it rides fine – but it’s much slower and heavier than her road bike or my Specialized mountain bike.

She rode out the Catharine Valley Trail and found She-Qua-Ga Falls in the neighboring village of Montour Falls.

She-Qua-Ga Falls

She rode about 13 miles – a fair ride considering the bike she was riding.

Later I rode the Spyder out to Watkins Glen International Raceway. At the main gate, they let me in on the condition that I limit myself to one grandstand area and not go near the pits or infield. There was a car club at the track – they rented the track for the week and were doing laps.

Members of this car club are definitely not from the hoi polloi – they have money to burn.

Ferrari on track

Ford GT40 and a Mercedes coupe

’67 Shelby GT Mustang

This track is in one of the most beautiful settings imaginable. And there is so much history here. The US Formula One Grand Prix started here in 1961 and ran every year until 1980. The Can-Am and Trans-Am series raced here. Jimmy Clark, Dan Gurney, Bruce McLaren, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Peter Revson – all of the greats from that era raced here.

Sadly, Francoise Cevert lost his life when he crashed at turn four during the Grand Prix on October 6, 1973 – my birthday. I was a 17-year-old Formula One fan at the time. We didn’t have TV coverage of Formula One back then – I would get the coverage through articles in Road & Track magazine weeks after the race. The articles were usually written by Rob Walker, a former team owner or Innes Ireland, a former Formula One driver who won the first US Grand Prix in 1961.

View from the grandstand looking back toward the village

Last evening, Donna finally got her birthday dinner. Traditionally we go out to eat at the restaurant of her choice on her birthday. This year we had to put it off for two reasons – inclement weather and the fact that all of the nicer restaurants in Frankfort, Kentucky – where we were at the time – are closed on Sunday. Her birthday fell on a Sunday.

Donna chose the Veraisons Restaurant at the Glenora Winery for her birthday dinner. It’s about 10 miles from the park and we rode the Spyder up to check out the winery before dinner.

View of a gazebo and vines overlooking Seneca Lake at Glenora Winery

Looking northeast from the winery gift shop – that’s the restaurant on the right

They had a nicely restored 1955 Chevrolet flat-bed truck in the parking lot. I don’t know if they just display it or use it around the winery. It didn’t have license plates, so I doubt it ever sees the highway.

1955 Chevy flat-bed

We dined on the deck at the back of the restaurant and enjoyed the spectacular view. Donna discovered she actually likes New York State cabernet sauvignon! Donna had the pappardelle and I had a pork chop. The presentation of both dishes included an edible flower. By the way, we noticed that Glenora Winery uses an image of the She-Qua-Ga Falls on their label.

Belated happy birthday to Donna

The weather was great yesterday with a high of 77 degrees and a few clouds. Today is forecast to be a copy of yesterday’s weather. We plan to check out a local brewery or two then hit the farmers’ market right down the road from us at Lafayette Park.

Meanwhile the loader at the boat launch is still filling dump trucks – the dirt mound is much smaller after filling truckload after truckload all day yesterday. I think they’ll finish the job today. That was a lot of dirt!

Erie Festivals

We found some fun things to do in Erie, Pennsylvania over the weekend. Donna started out Saturday by walking to the Goodwill store near the Elks Lodge and donated clothing and a few odds and ends we weren’t using. Then she went for a three mile run. I watched the Moto GP qualifying from Mugello, Italy. Then we headed out on the Spyder.

We went to Perry Square park for the Erie Wild Rib Cook-off and Music Festival – also known as the Erie Ribfest. Perry Square was a little smaller than we expected – it covers about a city block of land in an old part of town at State Street and 6th Street. The parking on the street there was all metered – a quarter gets you half an hour of parking time.

We wandered around, then ordered lunch. I bought pork ribs from a vendor called Pork Brothers BBQ. Their slogan is “Spiced and Smoked not Boiled and Soaked.” I got four bones and sides of baked beans and mac and cheese for $13. Donna went to another vendor for mac and cheese with brisket.

Barbeque vendors

While we dined at a picnic table, a band was onstage. They were playing some heavy metal headbanger stuff, so we weren’t real interested.

Local heavy metal

Later, a solo woman took the stage and played acoustic guitar and sang. We liked her music. We walked through the vendor stalls and Donna bought a couple of things before we headed out. On the way home, we made a pitstop at Lavery Brewing. Donna had a smoked black porter and I had an IPA. We both enjoyed our beers and then headed home.

On Saturday evening, Donna played Bingo at the lodge. She met a fun group of people and I joined them later for a cocktail on the patio. Their table won 3 out of 11 games. But no one won the big prize of $2,000. One of the guys we met – Tom – makes his own wine and dropped off a bottle the next day. Another guy – Dave – organizes running races in Erie and gave us some running swag.

On Sunday morning, I watched the Moto GP race from Italy. The we got on the Spyder again and headed downtown. Our destination was the Russian Orthodox Church of the Nativity on Front Street about four or five miles away. I thought it would be easy to find – all I had to do was turn north on German Street from 12th and hit Front Street. It turned out German Street was one-way southbound, so I took Holland instead. But Holland didn’t intersect with Front and we ended up down on the Bayfront Parkway. I knew this wasn’t the right way, then I saw the onion domes of the church up on the bluff overlooking the bay. We found it.

Domes on the church

The Troika Festival was happening there. It’s a Russian Festival featuring traditional Russian foods and entertainment. We found out the meaning of Troika – it’s the name of a carriage drawn by three horses abreast. It can also be a reference to group of three such as a small committee or ruling body.

They had a system where you bought tickets and then paid for food and drink with the tickets. This way, no money was changing hands at the food tables or bar. I really didn’t have a clue as to what traditional Russian food was all about, so we walked through the food tent and looked things over.

Donna and I opted for golubsty – this was minced pork, beef and rice wrapped in cabbage leaves, stewed in a mixture of sour cream and tomato sauce. They were very good.

Golubsty

We followed that with a dessert of Bird’s Milk custard. This was a white custard topped with a layer of milk chocolate.

The entertainment consisted of a emcee who was also a comedian and played guitar and accordion. He introduced Russian dancers and also a woman that played the balalaika. A balalaika is a traditional Russian stringed instrument with a triangular body. It has three strings that are plucked or strummed. It doesn’t have much sustain, so the strumming or plucking is usually done quickly.

Woman with a balalaika

The woman playing the balalaika was really talented. The first song we heard her play sounded much like Django Reinhardt gypsy jazz with lightning fast runs and licks. I loved it. The emcee called her the Jimi Hendrix of balalaika. Later she played a Russian classical piece that was very complicated.

They had a dance troupe in traditional costumes and also a couple that did some fancy choreographed ballroom dancing.

Dancers in traditional costumes

Ballroom dancers

We couldn’t leave the festival without a stop at the Siberian Express Ice Bar. They built a temporary bar that had three removable panels about four feet long and a foot and a half wide. They filled these panels with water and froze them, making an ice bar top. Periodically they would change out the panels with a newly frozen one. They drilled blind holes in the ice just the right diameter for shot glasses. They had a menu of vodka shot cocktails.

Siberian Express Ice Bar menu

Donna and I opted for the Ivan the Terrible – basically a very spicy Bloody Mary in a shot glass.

Our drinks in the ice bar

We rode back west on Bayfront Parkway and found the Millcreek Brewery on West Lake. We stopped in for a cold one. On Sundays they have all of the beers brewed in house for only $3.50/pint. Good deal. After we ordered a beer – a brown ale for Donna and an IPA for me – I checked the Radar Express app on my phone. Oh, no! A large storm front was off to the west and quickly advancing toward us. We finished our pints and came back to the lodge where I loaded the Spyder in the trailer.

We sat on the back patio of the lodge to stay dry while I had a cigar. We were joined by other Elks members and had lots of laughs and conversation. The storm passed quickly with the heavier rain and lightning off to the south of us.

Today we’ll pull out and head east. We’ll stop for the night and dry camp at the Seneca Allegany Resort and Casino in New York. From there we plan to go to Watkins Glen tomorrow. We’ll stay there for a week. The forecast looks favorable there – a couple of cool days in the mid-to-upper 60s followed by mid-70s.

 

Moving Right Along

We made it out of our site at Still Waters Campground without any problems and made the short trip to Lexington where we set up at Cabela’s. Cabela’s is a favorite place for an overnight stay – they have designated RV parking and welcome RVers and they have a dump station too. The Cabela’s in Lexington is next door to Costco, so we were able to stock up on few things while we were there.

I unloaded the Spyder and we rode a short distance to Ramsey’s Cafe. Donna was told it was the best place to get a Kentucky Hot Brown. I’d never heard of a Hot Brown before, but our friend Joe Milligan suggested we get one while we were here. A Kentucky Hot Brown is an open faced sandwich that was first served at the Brown Hotel in Louisville in 1926. Today there are a few variations to the basic concept. The one we got at Ramsey’s had thinly sliced turkey and ham on toast covered in mornay sauce. Then two tomato slices were put on top and the whole thing was covered with cheddar cheese. Finally two bacon strips topped it off. It was put under a broiler to melt the cheese and served hot. It was a large meal and very good! It was almost like an open faced grilled cheese sandwich taken to another level.

Kentucky Hot Brown

Back at Cabela’s, Donna went inside the store to cool off and shop for a while. It was hot out – in the 90s with high humidity. I sat in a lawn chair on the grass and read a book. A Lexington police officer patrolling the area stopped by and chatted with me for about half an hour. I think he was bored and looking for company.

Later, another couple stopped at our rig and talked to me. They were RVers, but not full-timers. They get out for a few months at a time. I told them we were planning to go to Charleston, West Virginia and stay for a couple of nights at the roadside park at St. Albans on the Kanawha River. They knew exactly where I was talking about – they used to live near there. The park has four pull-through sites with electricity. There is also a large paved lot that people sometimes dry camp in. It seemed like an ideal boondocking spot – the town only asks for a donation if you use the electricity. Donna came back from shopping while we were talking. They warned us of bad road surfaces in West Virginia.

Donna had jambalaya in the slow cooker all day. She made it with chunks of chicken breast, shrimp and andouille sausage with brown rice. We had that for dinner and it was yummy. The sausage came from the Robies market in Abbeville, Louisiana and it had some kick!

Jambalaya

We headed out of Lexington Wednesday morning after an uneventful night at Cabela’s.  Although we found a lot of road construction in West Virginia, for the most part the roads weren’t too bad. As we cruised down MacCorkle Avenue along the Kanawha River I spied the roadside park. The large paved lot was filled with amusement rides! A traveling carnival had come to town. The pull-through sites in the camping area were full of rigs presumably used by the carnies. Not only were the sites full, there were trailers parked everywhere they could find an opening. We stopped at a closed Kmart parking lot across the road to regroup.

Luckily, Donna had looked at alternatives along our route. We decided to press on to Parkersburg and spend the night at a Walmart there. We haven’t dry camped in a Walmart lot in over a year, but it’s not a bad option for an overnight stay. We originally thought we’d stay in St. Albans for two nights, but you have to be flexible on the road. A thunderstorm rolled in while we were at Walmart and it poured down rain. We slept with the windows closed and the generator running all night to power the air conditioners. It was warm and very muggy – we didn’t want the windows open as the thunderstorms had gusty winds and downpours that would have come into the coach.

Across the street from Walmart was a fast food place called Tudor’s Biscuit World. The woman from St. Albans told us we had to try biscuits from Tudor’s. They’re a chain, but are only found in West Virginia. On Thursday morning, I walked over there and ordered a biscuits and gravy plate to go. Donna wanted a plain biscuit, so I ordered a buttered biscuit with no butter – the only way they show a side order of biscuits on the menu is a buttered biscuit. The biscuits were good. The thin crust had toughness to it – it’s hard to describe but I found it to be chewy and delightful.

From Parkersburg, we headed north and crossed the Ohio River a couple of times, putting us in Ohio briefly. Our destination was the Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort. They have a large lot and welcome overnight RV stays. The racetrack is for horse racing and they race at night Sunday through Wednesday and in the afternoon on Saturday. We missed the racing as it was Thursday night.

Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort

Shortly after I parked our rig, a security guy came by.  He told us to move to another lot by a building called Harvs. It’s some kind of reception hall used for large parties and events. We were a stone’s throw from the race track. The lot had quite a slope to it and we weren’t exactly level, but it was okay for just one night. In fact, it was very quiet and peaceful.

We left Friday morning and crossed back into Ohio at East Liverpool and followed US30 up to I-80. I wanted to top up our fuel tank in Ohio as the price of diesel fuel is lower there than in West Virginia or Kentucky. The skies were overcast all day and a haze was in the air.

We found our way to the Elks Lodge in Erie, Pennsylvania and set up around 12:30pm. They have three 30 amp electrical sites and we’re the only RV here. I signed in with the bartender. They only ask for a donation so I wrote a check for $30 to stay for three nights.

We unloaded the Spyder and took a cruise up Peninsula Drive and entered Presque Isle State Park. Presque Isle is actually a peninsula – the entire peninsula is a state park and admittance is free. The haze we experienced all day remained over Lake Erie, but once on the Isle, the temperature dropped by about 10 degrees.

Hazy view across Presque Isle Bay toward Erie, Pennsylvania

The park has numerous hiking trails, boat ramps, a marina and several beaches. Who knew you could find sandy beaches on Lake Erie?

Picnic area by the marina

Later we had a cold one at the Elks Lodge – well actually make that two. The bar bought us the first round and I felt obligated to pay for a round as well. Donna cooked boneless turmeric chicken thighs with artichokes chick peas and green olives for dinner. She also sauteed asparagus. It was a great meal!

Turmeric chicken

While she was cooking, the power at our electrical pedestal went out. I checked the next site and the pedestal there was working. I don’t know why our pedestal blew. I opened the lower panel to have a look and didn’t see anything unusual. There was a guy with a huge roller on a tractor rolling lumps and ridges out of the lawn earlier. I wonder if that might have damaged a conduit underground. We moved about fifty feet to the next site and hooked up to the pedestal there.

This morning is overcast again but there’s only a 20% chance of a shower and the forecast high is 70 degrees. Donna and I are planning to go to the Ribfest – it’s billed as Erie’s Wild Rib Cook Off and Music Festival. Sounds like fun, right?

 

 

 

Buffalo Trace

Our week in Nashville flew by. We pulled out of Grand Ole RV Park Thursday morning and were on the road by 9:15am. Our route took us up I-65 to Elizabethtown where we cut east on the Bluegrass Highway. The road surfaces were good. There were a lot of tractor-trailer rigs on I-65 heading to and from Louisville. Southern Kentucky has a lot of brown signs on I-65 indicating points of interest – mostly parks with caverns and museums. Apparently the limestone in the area is conducive to the formation of caves.

We stopped at the Pilot Travel Center at exit 86 on I-65 before we hit the Blugrass Highway. I topped up the tank with 60 gallons of diesel. Fuel prices have been on the rise and I paid $3.11/gallon. Our next stop was at Walmart on US127 in Lawrenceburg. Donna went in to get a couple of thigs while I ordered a Subway sandwich for a late lunch. I had a mishap in the parking lot there. Although the parking lot didn’t have trees, which are my usual obstacle in Walmart lots, this one had concrete islands with high curbs at the end of each row. I picked what looked to be the widest opening and went for it. There was a metal stop sign right at the edge of the island. I scraped the trailer on the edge of the stop sign. Arrgh!

We made our way to the Still Waters Campground. Check-in was a little different. No computers. The owners live onsite and do everything the old fashioned way – hand written receipts and journal entries. The guy that took us to our site (on a riding mower!) brought us in from the wrong direction – there was no way I would be able to back the trailer into the site. He had me loop around on the lawn and enter the site from the rear – making it a pull-through. Before I could get all the way in, a branch had to removed from one the trees lining the site. We were finally ready to set up around 3:30pm.

Donna made a quick and easy meal for dinner – just the thing on a travel day. She made a skillet meal of sweet Italian chicken sausage, cherry tomatoes, and asparagus and served it over whole wheat penne and pesto. It was a savory, hearty meal.

Skillet Italian chicken sausage with tomatoes and asparagus

On Friday morning, I got the Spyder out and we rode into town to the Buffalo Trace Distillery. We arrived just in time for the 9am tour. I had read about their tours online – they have five different tours. The Trace Tour runs every hour from 9am to 4pm Monday through Saturday, noon to 3pm on Sunday. Their site says “walk-ins welcome, no reservation required.” It’s a tour that gives background on making bourbon and the history of the distillery. It includes walks through barrel-aging warehouses and one of the bottling operations.

The other four tours are more specific to a certain aspect of the distillery. I wanted to take the Hard Hat Tour which takes you through the mash and distillation process. But, I didn’t notice that all of the tours except the Trace Tour require reservations. By the time I realized it on Thursday, they were all booked. All of the tours are free.

This distillery has the distinction of being the oldest continuously running distillery in America. The distillery was built by Harrison Blanton in 1812. The Prohibition era from 1920 to 1933 closed all but a few distilleries. Buffalo Trace Distillery was known as the George T. Stagg Distillery at the time and was granted an exemption to distill whiskey for medicinal purposes. During prohibition, pharmacies carried small amounts of whiskey which could only be obtained with a doctor’s prescription. Thus the distillery never shut down.

The distillery is on the bank of the Kentucky River and the property is beautiful with manicured lawns, gardens and brick buildings dating back to the 1800s. The rest of this post is photo-heavy – I took lots of pictures at the distillery.

Donna at the visitor center and gift shop

An old pot still used for small experimental batches – I know someone who’d like to have this

One of several barrel-aging warehouses – barrel elevator at the top floor

An interesting thing I learned is why barrels are… well, barrel-shaped. When filled with whiskey, the barrels weigh about 550 pounds. If the barrels were made with straight sides like a 55-gallon drum, they would be hard to handle and maneuver around. With the barrel shape and convex sides, when the barrel is on its side, it only has a small contact area. It can easily be spun or turned. If the barrel is rolled onto a track – much like a narrow-gauge train track – it will roll along and follow the track. That’s how they transport barrels from building to building here. The tracks have a slight slope to let gravity roll the barrel from one building to the next.  They also have elevators to raise the barrels to different floors of the buildings.

Barrel Crossing

Buffalo Trace distills a number of whiskey brands. The interesting thing is they only have three grain bill recipes for their bourbon. Grain bill number one is used for Buffalo Trace Bourbon and Eagle Rare and a few others. The difference between Buffalo Trace Bourbon and Eagle Rare comes from the amount of time it’s aged and the placement of the barrel during aging. Whiskeys that are bottled young are aged in the top floors of the barrel buildings where the temperature fluctuation is the greatest. More expensive whiskeys are aged on the lower floors and closer to the center of the building. The actual recipes are secret, but I’ve heard grain bill number one is 70% corn, about 15% rye and the balance barley. Grain bill number two is also corn, rye and barley but in different percentages – it’s used to make Blanton’s. Grain bill number three is used to make Pappy Van Winkle’s  and is corn, wheat and barley.

The barrels have bar codes and information stamped on them. This one was filled in May of 2014

This barrel has been aging since May of 2007 – probably a third of the contents have evaporated by now

This barrel contains an experimental recipe

As the barrels age, some evaporation occurs. Water escapes as the water molecules are small enough to pass through the wood barrel through osmosis. The alcohol molecules are larger and remain in the barrel. So the percentage of alcohol in the barrel increases over time.

Next we went to one of the bottling stations

The premium whiskeys produced by Buffalo Trace are bottled and labeled by hand. The barrel of whisky is dumped into a trough. A sample is taken to determine the alcohol content of the barrel. Water is added to reach the desired alcohol content, then the whiskey flows to the bottler.

Filling bottles of Blanton’s Single Barrel whiskey

You can thank the Blanton’s brand for creating the popular single-barrel whiskey niche. They started it in 1984 and now it’s the craze. Most bourbons are made by blending several different barrels of whiskey together to create a consistent flavor profile. Each bottle of Blantons is filled with whiskey from a single barrel. The label has the barrel number hand written along with warehouse designation and storage rick on the label. It also has the date the barrel was dumped.

Capping Blanton’s by hand

Applying the labels

Bagging and boxing Blanton’s

They had two lines bottling Blanton’s. One of the women working the line told me they box 350 cases per shift, six bottles to a case. That’s 2,100 bottles per line and they run two shifts per day – 8,400 bottles. They can’t keep up with demand though. The problem comes from aging. Who knew nine years ago that the single-barrel Blanton’s would become so popular? If they had a crystal ball, they would have made more of it back then so it would be good to go now.

They produce 18 different spirits at Buffalo Trace. One of them is Pappy Van Winkle’s. For many bourbon connoisseurs, 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle’s is the holy grail. They only bottle and release it once a year in November. People pay crazy prices for it and often have to be drawn through a lottery to obtain a bottle.

Some of the different liquors made here

Bottle on the right is the Holy Grail – 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle’s

They have a special place to commemorate every millionth barrel filled since prohibition. Right now barrel number seven million is aging in this place of honor.

The glass wall made the photo ghostly

The tour ended around 10:30am with a complimentary tasting. I tried the White Dog which is basically moonshine – it’s liquor that hasn’t been barrel-aged. It was awful. Then I had Eagle Rare in my right hand and Buffalo Trace Bourbon in my left hand for a comparison taste. Both are superb. We finished with a chocolate bourbon ball with a pecan on top and a shot of bourbon cream with a dash of root beer. Delicious.

Before we left, we dropped some cash in the gift shop. We bought chocolate bourbon balls, Buffalo Trace bourbon and I had to grab a bottle of Blanton’s Single Barrel. It’s way pricier than I would usually spend on bourbon, but I got caught up in the hype.

My bottle of Blanton’s – barrel dumped May 16, 2018 from barrel number 178, warehouse H rick number 30

Of course, I had to add a Buffalo Trace T-shirt while I was at it.

Later in the afternoon, I got the Sea Eagle kayak out and we rolled it down to Elkhorn Creek on the kayak carrier. Donna paddled up the slow moving creek and had a look around. I saw a water snake as we were launching the kayak – harmless. And Donna didn’t see anything scary other than a couple of cows drinking from the muddy river.

Donna on Elkhorn Creek

Donna prepared another quick and easy meal last night. She made a new dish she’s calling Skillet Taco Turkey & Black Beans with Cauliflower Rice. Healthy and scrumptious.

Skillet taco turkey dish

Tomorrow is Donna’s birthday. We are postponing her usual birthday dinner out due to the lack of a suitable restaurant open on Sunday in the area. We’ll probably find something in Lexington in a few days. We’re booked here through Tuesday. Hopefully the weather holds out, but the forecast calls for a strong possibility of thunder showers today and tomorrow.

 

Nudie’s in Nashville

There’s a company that runs a shuttle service from hotels and RV parks in the suburbs to downtown Nashville. Donna called them Monday morning and arranged for a pick-up here at Grand Ole RV Park at 2pm. The round-trip shuttle service costs $15/person. We thought 2pm would be early enough to miss rush-hour traffic on the 30-minute ride downtown. It was also late enough by the time we got there for the bands to be playing on Broadway.

The shuttle dropped us off by the Country Music Hall of Fame on 5th and Demonbreun. We walked a block north to Broadway and made our way down to the waterfront on 1st Avenue. Most of the activity is in the bars and clubs on Broadway between 4th and 2nd Avenues. We crossed to the north side of Broadway and made our way back toward 4th Avenue and stopped at a few clubs to see who was playing.

We made our first stop at Whiskey Bent Saloon where two guys were taking requests. It was amazing – someone would put in a request, then while one of them was playing and singing a song the other would look up the song requested on a smartphone and would learn the song in a matter of minutes and play it.

Stump the Band

We heard rock and roll coming from a club across the street and stopped there for a couple of cold ones. It was Nudie’s Honky Tonk. The name doesn’t mean what you might think it means. The club is named after Nudie Cohn. Nudie was born in Ukraine and was a renowned tailor. He made suits for everyone from Ronald Reagan to Elton John and, of course, Elvis Presley. He made the $10,000 gold lamé suit worn by Elvis. The club has photos of Nudie with various artists and celebrities lining the walls along with various suits he made.

The band was playing classic rock with a power trio format when we came in. Nashville isn’t just country music.

Rockin’ power trio

After a few songs, a girl joined the band to sing. She was good and could cover a wide range of tunes – everything from Journey to Led Zeppelin. The guitar player was clever – when they played What I Like About You by the Romantics, he hit chords with what must have 32nd notes to simulate the harmonica in the original tune.

Power trio now fronted by a woman

We moved on and went to The Stage on Broadway. The band playing there was smokin’ hot. I was wearing a black Gibson shirt and the band leader started teasing me a bit. He asked what I wanted to hear – I said Bob Dylan. He said okay and started the intro to Knockin’ on Heavens Door, then stopped. He asked me my name and I said Bob Dylan – if I would have been quicker on my feet, I would have said Robert Zimmerman – Bob Dylan’s real name. He wanted to know my name, so I told him. Then he said if I could answer a question, I would win a prize. He asked what band besides Bob Dylan covered that song. I said everyone’s done that song. He said, “Okay, what band other than Bob Dylan had a number one hit with that song?” I responded with Guns N’ Roses. He said, “Bingo! Right answer. That means you get to buy a round of drinks for the band – three whiskeys and a Coke.” Then they played the song.

Later he donned sunglasses and fake sideburns to cover an Elvis number. I thought he looked more like Neil Diamond.

Elvis or Neil?

The guy sitting stage right ripped on the steel guitar and he was no slouch with a standard electric guitar either. The front man with the left-handed Telecaster was unbelievable. At one point in the show he asked if anyone in the audience had an empty beer bottle. A woman gave him one. They launched into the Allman Brothers Ramblin’ Man and he used the beer bottle to play slide guitar licks. It takes a deft touch to hit the notes with something as big and heavy as a beer bottle!

Beer bottle slide guitar

It only rained once while we were downtown and we were sitting in the Whisky Bent Saloon at the time. We knocked off early and caught the shuttle back to the RV park. Donna stopped in at the office/restaurant and picked up the daily special for dinner – Shepherd’s pie with cornbread.

Wednesday was mostly a hang out day for me. I made a run to Walmart for a couple of things and stopped at the Cigar Club and bought a couple of cigars. Donna had a visitor in the afternoon – a Facebook friend by the name of Charmaine Alsager. They discovered that they have a few friends and interests in common.

Earlier in the day, I got a text and phone call from Lester Foreman. We met Lester and his wife, JoAnn, at the Tom Sawyer RV Park in West Memphis in 2015. I wrote about Lester and his Vixen coach in this post. Lester had been checking in with us through the blog and knew where we were. He wanted to tell me about a great place for breakfast about 20 miles away called the Bottom View Farm.

Donna and I headed out on the Spyder at 7:30am this morning to find the place for breakfast. I missed a turn and we ended riding for about an hour before I found it. We were pretty hungry by the time we arrived, but as luck would have it, there was a note on the door: Sorry, closed due to a death.

We ended up getting breakfast at Johnson’s Crossroads Cafe – Donna had noticed it on the way out and thinks that it was a restaurant Charmaine had recommended the day before. The food was good and the service was fast. Today I’ll have to tidy up the trailer. We’re heading north to Frankfort, Kentucky tomorrow. The temperature will be 90 here and we’ll probably have another thundershower before the day is done. The forecast for Frankfort is about 10 degrees cooler and hopefully it’ll stay dry there.

 

Daily Downpours

We mostly hung out at the Grand Ole RV Resort and dodged the expected thundershowers all weekend. Friday evening Donna browned bone-in skin-on chicken thighs and cooked it with diced tomatoes, red wine, and kalamata olives and then topped it with feta cheese. She served it with whole wheat orzo and  roasted broccolini on the side. I’d made a run to the Goodlettsville Kroger a few miles away earlier to pick up the wine and kalamata olives.

Chicken with tomatoes, kalamata olives and feta

It was a very tasty meal. We ate inside as the thundershowers rolled in.

On Saturday morning we planned to go to the Madison Creek Farm for their Saturday market. Their farm is located out on Willis Branch Road – an affluent area with large homes and horse farms. When we arrived we found out that the market was closed due to a wedding being held there. From time to time, they rent out the property for special events.

Madison Creek Farm

We saw some fresh vegetable baskets they had prepared for members that signed up for weekly pick-up. The vegetables looked great and were obviously freshly picked from the garden. They also grow flowers and in the summer months, customers can cut their own.

When we returned to Grand Ole RV Park, we moved from our temporary site to a long, full hook-up site. We packed quickly and made the short move by 11am.

Donna enjoying a glass of sun tea in our new site

Our new site is on a small rise near the park entrance, overlooking most of the RV park. It’s nice but the trees along the south side of the coach have blocked my Dish Network reception. No Moto GP race coverage for me this weekend.

After we settled in, I rode the Spyder to Walmart several miles away on Gallatin Pike. The traffic in the Nashville area is horrible. At a couple of intersections, I had to wait for the traffic signal to cycle twice before I could get through. I went to Walmart to refill some gallon jugs of purified water.

Donna went out and hiked along a creek called Lumsley Fork – she actually walked along a road called Hitt Lane that follows the creek. In the late afternoon and into the evening we had thundershowers again.

They serve breakfast here at the RV park. On Friday, I had their bacon and eggs plate. I found out they had biscuits and gravy, so I had to have that Sunday morning. They also have a daily dinner plate – no open menu, just one entree per evening and live entertainment. Donna met one the musicians. He stays here at the park and plays in two bands. One band plays on Friday night and is more of a country music band with a girl playing fiddle. The other band plays on Saturday night and they cover blues and classic rock. They have other musicians for each night – either on the back patio – weather permitting – or in the little store/restaurant.

I used the downtime in the afternoon to remove and clean the screen on our Fantastic Fan in the kitchen. The roof vent collects a greasy film and dust over time.

On Sunday evening, Donna marinated a pork tenderloin in a brown sugar/bourbon/dijon marinade. She broke into my bourbon stash for one of the main ingredients. The weather was threatening when I put it on the grill. I had just given the tenderloin a final check and found the internal temperature with an instant read meat thermometer at 135 degrees when the rain started falling. I quickly put the meat on a cutting board as Donna opened the door to the coach for me. The rain came down in buckets.

Pork tenderloin with brown sugar/bourbon/dijon gravy, mashed sweet potato and buttered corn with roasted red peppers

Thunder had Ozark the cat hiding in a small storage cubby in our closet.

Ozark hiding out

After a heavy down pour, the rain let up and we had showers off and on into the night. It’s overcast this morning and the forecast calls for thundershowers this afternoon – a 50% chance all afternoon. We’re planning to take a shuttle to downtown Nashville, but we’ll probably be dodging showers while we’re there. The high should reach the upper 80s. Waiting for a window of nicer weather doesn’t look like a possibility. The daily showers should continue all week.

 

 

From the River to the Lake

Tuesday was hot and humid in Baton Rouge. The temperature reached 92 degrees and the humidity was heavy. Donna went out in the morning for a bike ride. She took her hybrid knock-around bike on the Mississippi River levee trail. Here are some photos she took on her ride.

I-10 spanning the mighty Mississippi

Casino parking – notice the high water level on the left

Casino on the river

USS Kidd – a floating Veterans Memorial and museum

Raising Cane’s River Center Arena

Opposing statues – two of 22 cast iron and aluminum statues scattered in the downtown area

Baton Rouge is spelled out in large red letters on the levee

After Donna’s bike ride, we rode the Spyder to Garden District Coffee. We needed coffee beans and wanted to try some locally roasted coffee. This shop is definitely boutique and buying coffee from them was a splurge. We bought a pound of the coffee used in the porter Donna tried yesterday at Tin Roof Brewery – Italian/Espresso – and a pound of Ethiopian Sidamo.

Then we made a stop at Trader Joe’s to stock up on produce. Our refrigerator is fairly full, but we can always use fresh fruit and vegetables. We don’t know how accessible a good grocery store will be at our next stop.

By the time we finished running our errands and dealing with Baton Rouge traffic, the heat was taking a toll on us. We spent the rest of the afternoon indoors enjoying air conditioning and a bit of solitude. We didn’t make it to the Old State Capitol. When it cooled down in the evening, we enjoyed sitting outside and watching the horses. The workers at the center put the horses in the stables at night and let them out in the pasture in the mornings.

Horses in the pasture by our site

In the morning on Wednesday, Donna went out for a run in the neighborhood by the BREC Farr Equestrain Center while I packed up the chairs and loaded the Spyder. We weren’t in any hurry but we hit the road at 10:15am. I had the generator running and the front roof air conditioner on while we traveled.

The drive through Baton Rouge to I-12 wasn’t fun. The roads are narrow and in terrible shape. The interstate through the metro area is bumpy and erratic drivers are everywhere. Once we got away from the city on I-12 east, the road surface improved and the traffic settled down. We made a stop at the Pilot/Flying J Travel Center in Hammond. Donna bought a couple of Arby’s roast beef sandwiches while I pumped $160 worth of diesel to top up our tank. We rarely eat fast food other than an occasional  Subway Sandwich or a taco, but the Arby’s was convenient and it hit the spot.

Our destination was the Elk’s Lodge near Hattiesburg, Mississippi. This was our first time in Mississippi. I was surprised at the number of pine trees lining the interstate. I was expecting to see cotton fields. Our original plan was to exit the interstate at Covington and take state highways. We changed the plan on the fly. The road surface was good and the driving easy, so we followed I-12 to I-59.

We had to drive for about 8 miles on narrow county roads to the find the Elk’s Lodge. The lodge is located on an amazing property – I’ve never seen a lodge like it. They have 1400 acres of land and a lake – Elk’s Lake – behind the lodge. They have 50 RV sites available for Elk’s members with fresh water and 50 amp electrical service for $10/night! Many of the sites are on the waterfront.

The area around the lake is forest with many tall pine trees. Maneuvering our rig in the park was difficult. I had to get us turned around in a limited space to drop the trailer and back into our site. It took patience, but it was worth it.

Our site on the lake

There’s a little cove to the left of our site

Donna’s looking forward to hiking in the area and getting the kayak in the water. Tonight the lodge has a special steak dinner – we put our reservations in. The forecast calls for a high of 92 today. The hot temperatures will continue through the weekend – but the lodge has an Olympic size pool that will open tomorrow! I need to run a couple of errands and may take the Spyder into town today.