Friday Thunder and Lightning Storm

Starting around 4:00am this morning the skies opened up. I wish I had a way to record it properly it was that intense. Lightning crackling across the sky and instant thunder means the strikes were very close by. This went on for 4 hours, it was awesome! It rained very hard as well, I wish I had taken video but the only camera I had is my T3i and the battery was dead, lousy timing.

It’s only 74f outside today and cloudy so we’re happy! Perfect day for a long walk and a fire pit tonight. Ronda is out buying batteries for our “Ghost Hunting” equipment… ok stop laughing!   We’re going to have some fun with it, I know we won’t find anything in a campground but the idea is to have fun with it.

I’ll post back tomorrow and if we capture anything it will be there!  

The Couple Next Door

When we pulled into site # 1 we never expected this but then stuff happens. We didn’t see the neighbor next to us until our 3rd day. I was filling a little plastic pool with water so Loki could splash around and keep cool and we could dunk our feet when I noticed a lot of water coming out of the rig next door.

I took a closer look and when I saw it was coming from the floor and not a connection, I ran to the door and knocked. It took a few moments but an elderly lady answered and explained she had over-filled her kitchen sink. She also explained she didn’t know what was what and that somebody was coming to help check it out for her. I offered my help if she needs it and went back to our rig.

I could tell somebody set their rig up and it couldn’t have been her judging by what she told me. It’s a fifth wheel and well, you can tell who ever set it up knew what they were doing. Last night I saw her coming back with other people so I walked over and asked if everything was fine (not sure why mind you, it was a gut feeling) and if she needs any help let me know, she thanked me and re-explained what happened. She is such a sweet lady, my guess is she is in her mid 80’s, if not older.

This morning (9/4) she and Ronda started talking and she explains that she just got married 5 months ago and her and her new husband came to Illinois to meet his family and then are moving on to Pennsylvania to meet hers. Before getting married both her and her husband were very healthy, since getting married she has been sick twice and last week in the campground her husband had a stroke while working outside on the rig, they were getting ready to leave and had about 2 hours before hitting the road when the stroke happened. Makes your heart hurt just thinking about it.

There is a hospital less than a mile away and he was rushed there and when stabilized he was air lifted to Peoria for further treatment. His daughter, who she had just met, has been driving her to the hospital and back each day since so she is staying in the camper until something can be arranged. At the time I’m writing this he was given a new drug called TPA which helped keep the paralysis at bay and he looks to have most of his mobility but no speech yet.

Before going out for dinner at The Cellar (9/4) we left a note on her door offering to dump her tanks and handle anything else she might need help with.

This morning (9/5) there was a gentle knock on our door and she asked me if I could check her tanks and locate a leak she is dealing with. I checked under the rig and sure enough there was water dribbling out near the gray tank. I went inside and checked the tank readings and they were reading full. I showed her how to read the tank sensors and then showed her how to dump the tanks.

As soon as the water level lowered you could see that the leaking stopped, which was a good sign. We went inside and she showed me the plumbing for the shower was all wet. Thankfully the access panel was easy to remove, I checked the connections and they were both a little loose. I tightened them up and she dried up everything she could and then we check the sensors again and the black tank was still showing 2/3 full so her black tank sensors are dirty.

I explained what she could do to clean them and also to add some water to the black tank after dumping with some Dawn or Joy dishwashing liquid to help clean things out. She was using chemicals that caused odors instead of removing them so I was able to talk her out of that. Since we’re going to be here until Sunday I’m going to go by daily and see if the smell returns and also help her monitor tank levels and then I’m going to watch her dump the tanks before we leave to make sure she is comfortable with doing it.

I’m a little worried that there won’t be many people around the campground after we leave, it’s almost empty here now. I’m going to speak to the owners and ask them to help her out after we leave. Ronda and I are praying for her husbands speedy recovery so they can get back to their honeymoon travels. If you have time to say a prayer for her and her husband it would be appreciated.

They Predicted 84f, It’s 95 With A Heat Index Of 102!!

How is it, yesterday they predict a high of 84f and this morning they change it to the mid 90’s? All week was supposed to be mid 80’s to high 70’s, instead it’s more like what we dealt with during the July4th vacation, HOT! I have the blankets back up over the windshield and slide windows to help the AC keep up.

      

Yesterday we lost power when the circuit breaker overloaded at the power box. When I turned them back on it was very hot to the touch, so I’m keeping an eye on it.

Supposedly it’s going to be much cooler for the rest of the week but if they can’t predict the next day how can we trust they are going to be right?? Before hitting the post button EDIT: Scratch that! The temp tomorrow has been changed from 77f to over 90 AGAIN!!!! With the rest of the week of course being in the high 70’s, but don’t you believe it, at this rate you can bet we’ll be in the 90’s all week, wouldn’t it be nice if we all got paid to be wrong all the time? Three days in a row where the prediction is over 10 degrees off, at this rate my 6 year old niece could predict the weather better. 

Ok, enough whining about inaccurate weather people…

Tonight I’m taking Ronda to “The Cellar” in Geneseo, IL for our anniversary dinner since they were closed for Labor Day yesterday. We were going to have a fire tonight like last night but it’s going to be a bit too hot so we’re going to a local store to purchase a movie and we’ll sit inside and pop some popcorn and enjoy movie night.

Happy Labor Day Everybody

Methane….. You Know It Stinks…..

Good grief, the stench is back, Ronda just got done losing her dinner because the rig decided to chase us out out by stinking up the joint… I give, now what the frackin heck can be the cause this time? I power flushed the tanks, everything smelled rosy until…

Today for some reason, it’s windy, great right? So you know air is going by the fancy schmancy rotating air vents we had installed so why the heck does it smell like the local sewer treatment plant?? We make it through the July 110 degree meltdown with no issues, no wind to help keep the stench out but doesn’t matter, no smell! Now it’s fantastic out and we get the stench back.

Tomorrow is our 13th anniversary so I’m sending Ronda out while I spend the morning flushing the works and praying something got stuck or something that I get cleared out or we won’t make it the week. For now I’m playing the change the direction of the fantastic fan game, when using the head suck air into the rig, when not have the air blow out of the rig pulling air in from the bathroom vent.

So far that works, no smell but when it hits 90 tomorrow I better have it resolved… there are times I actually hate this rig and this is one of those times.

EDIT: FOUND IT!!!  Ok, right now I bet the rig is blogging about stupid owners!! If you find her blog let me know I’d really like to see what she writes about us! The gray tank was full and had filled up into the shower base. About 3 inches of gray water was sitting in the shower, I was in the back talking to Ronda when the light bulb went off.  ok, so it went off twice!!

I was telling Ronda why doesn’t it smell in the toilet room?? I move the dogs den and open the shower door and there it is, about 1 inch from overflowing…   That damn tank sensor isn’t reading right so after our anniversary tomorrow on Tuesday I’m going to clean out the gray tank…

I was going to just delete this post but it is a kind of time capsule that down the road we can read back on and say, “remember that??” and hopefully laugh!

Have a great Labor Day everybody!

Friday 8/31/12 Vacation Preparation – Detail The Filthy Monster

The RV sits under walnut tree’s at Blackhawk leaving the top of the rig filthy, not just a little bit filthy but nearly black with whatever walnut trees drop. I should have taken a before picture of the AC unit and vent covers, ick… My family used to own a 28ft aft cabin Wellcraft boat, that was hard to clean, but it was nothing compared to the almost 7 hours I put into cleaning the entire roof and exterior of the rig. I also power washed the entire front of the house!

By the time I was done I had soaked through my clothing completely, it was 96f with the sun blazing down so I was thankful of the wind hitting me hard enough to splash the rinse water back at me and cooling me off. The roof is cleaner than when we bought it and just climbing the ladder to take this picture took a lot of effort, my arms were numb and shaky!

We packed up the rig and drove to Geneseo, we of course brought rain with us because we can’t go to Geneseo without it raining at least once! It’s now Saturday and it’s raining and it’s nice and cool outside. We’re watching the movie “White Noise” and then heading to the store to find me some walking shoes and to get supplies for the next 8 days.

Have a great Labor Day holiday everybody!

Our Government–A Repost From MyOldRV.Com

Link – > Our Government

By Andy, on August 26th, 2012

Andy’s note:  Before you go busting my ass about specific facts and figures cited in this article treat it as I did — it is a modern day parable. One fact that is indisputable –  Government is only going to get bigger. It never gets smaller.  From 2008 to 2012,   private sector jobs decreased 6.6% while Federal Employment grew 11.7%.

Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert.

Congress said, “Someone may steal from it at night.”

So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.

Then Congress said, “How does the watchman do his job without instruction?”

So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.

Then Congress said, “How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?”

So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One was to do the studies and one was to write the reports.

Then Congress said, “How are these people going to get paid?”

So they created two positions: a time keeper and a payroll officer then hired two people.

Then Congress said, “Who will be accountable for all of these people?”

So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.

Then Congress said, “We have had this command in operation for one year and we are $918,000 over budget, we must cut back.”

So they laid-off the night watchman.

NOW slowly, let it sink in.

Quietly, we go like sheep to slaughter. Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the Department of Energy during the Carter administration?

Anybody?

Anything?

No?

Didn’t think so!

Bottom line is, we’ve spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency, the reason for which very few people who read this can remember!

Ready??

It was very simple… and at the time, everybody thought it very appropriate.

The Department of Energy was instituted on 8/04/1977, to lessen our dependence on Foreign Oil. (Ed. note — very disingenuous and simplistic  — see cite here)
Hey, pretty efficient, huh???

And now it’s 2012 – 35 years later – and the budget for this ‘necessary; department is at $24.2 billion a year.  It has 16,000 Federal employees and approximately 100,000 contract employees……..  and look at the job it has done.

(THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY, “WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?”)
34 years ago 30% of our oil consumption was foreign imports. Today 70% of our oil consumption is foreign imports.

Ah, yes — good old Federal bureaucracy.

Now, we have turned over the banking system, health care and the auto industry to the same government.

Hello!! Anybody Home?

Signed….

The Night Watchman”

Common sense and logic, very foreign to the Government!

Mars In High Definition

Go here, it’s awesome when you go full screen and look around!