Monthly Archives: August 2013
Cat Food . . .
When we were at the Timber Trails Campground up in Vandalia, IL the other day, there was a newish rig parked next to us for the first day or so. On the side was a small door labeled ‘Cat Food’, but unfortunately I didn’t get a photo. But I did wonder why anyone would store cat food in an outside bin. Then
DOH!
A door labeled ‘Cat Food’ is where you feed a Caterpillar engine its diesel.
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Today was pretty much a rest-up day after the long trip yesterday, just sitting around enjoying our coffee and the view of the green pastures surrounding us. We can see goats, cows, geese, ducks, chickens, and even pigs. And of course, Dottie the RV park dog, who comes out to visit every new arrival.
Later in the morning we saw my 2nd cousin Luke come by on the riding mower trying to finish up before the approaching thunderstorm arrived, but he didn’t quite make it. There’s always tomorrow.
Unlike yesterday, today’s rain only lasted about 30 minutes before the skies cleared up. Glad it wasn’t as bad as before.
One of the chores I wanted to do this afternoon is to disassemble the Fantastic Vent Fan in our bathroom. First I wanted to find out why the motor stalls while lifting the cover. It sounds like a gear is slipping inside the motor drive housing, but I first wanted to be sure the lid lift mechanism wasn’t binding or sticking.
But after removing the motor, I could operate the lid manually with a pair of pliers with no problem, so that wasn’t it. This leaves the motor drive itself, which is definitely possible, since I replaced the same one 3 or 4 years ago for the same reason.
I also wanted to clean the fan and the housing from the accumulated dirt before putting it back together. But I’ll have to wait until I take a further look at the motor and see if I can take it apart.
A little before 5pm Jan and I headed out to have dinner at one of our favorite places here in Athens, Catfish Cabin. Don’t know how they do it 400 miles from the ocean, but they have some of the freshest seafood around. And their hushpuppies are fantastic. As soon as you sit down they bring you a big basket of them, hot out of the fryer. YUM!
Coming home we stopped in at my Aunt and Uncle, Jan and Ed Calvin’s house which is right next door to the RV park. It was good catching up with everyone since we were here last year. All my aunts and uncles are in their 80’s and 90’s so I don’t want to miss out on any time with them.
Tomorrow, more family time, I hope.
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Go to a Mensa meeting and then go to a meeting of retarded people and notice that they buy their clothes in the same places and that they have equal social skills.
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Four States in Eight Hours . . .
Getting ready for our long 400 mile day, we were out of Timber Trails Campground at 7:45 this morning heading the 10 miles into Vandalia to get diesel at the Wal-Mart. 34 gallons and $135.00 later I hitched up the truck and we drove the rig over to the Denny’s on the other side of the Interstate to meet Debbie, Jim, and Tana for one last breakfast together.
After saying our goodbyes for this year, we were back on the road a little after 10. It quickly became obvious that we were going to have to run the generator and the house AC’s to be comfortable, as much for the humidity as the temperature.
Then, before we could even get out of Illinois, the humidity caught up with us in the form of rain. Lots and lots of rain. In fact the rain never really let up for the rest of the day, even though when I checked the weather along our route through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama this morning, it all looked fine.
And to make it even more fun, we had road construction. Lots and lots of road construction. Just miles of single lanes and orange barrels. Throw in a wreck that had traffic backed up for about 5 miles, and you’ve got the makings of a real fun day.
When the rain slacked a little, Jan decided she wanted to drive for a while so she took over for a couple of hours, and she did great, even in the pouring rain. But she was a little leery about driving though Nashville traffic in all the lane, so I took it back over a little outside town, and drove the rest of the way.
We got into my cousin’s Northgate RV Travel Park in Athens, AL, about 10 miles south of the Tennessee border a little after 6pm. Since the park office was already closed, we just found a site and got parked. All I did at that point was plug in shore power and unhitch the toad, before we headed out to Cracker Barrel for dinner.
Thursday is Turkey and Dressing day there, and Jan didn’t want to miss out. They often run out of it toward the end of the day, and in fact, as we were leaving, they had taken it off the menu board.
Getting back to the rig about 8, I finished setting us up and we settled in after a very long day.
Tomorrow, reconnecting with my relatives here.
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Thought for the Day:
Some problems have no solution. If you encounter one of these, you can always convene a committee to revise your checklist.
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