Campfire

[gingerK]

Holy cow, Linda! What an adventure!

[bikerchic777]

I know, right? I just have to keep telling myself, it could be worse!

Gotta claim my last unemployment check, then get ready for work Have a great day!

[JudyJB]

I am beat after a long day's drive. First 60 miles was very curvy and hill, so very tiring. There was also a 20 miles stretch in the middle that was curvy--this is Kentucky after all. Got to Richmond, KY, and found (yea!!!) a Meijers Thrift Acres store. This is a chain of larger-then-Walmart stores with much better groceries, produce, and meats, in the Great Lakes area, plus a few in KY. Felt like home and I got some Kumato tomatoes. I will post photos later, as they are strange looking but taste wonderful. Had to buy some bacon and fresh bread for BLTs for dinner tomorrow.

Anyway, was only 15 miles from Fort Boonesborough state park, so decided to ignore my Rand McNally GPS and take a shortcut that looked scenic. About four miles down the road, a guy flashed his lights, passed me, and then waved him arm out the window for me to pull over--just before a low bridge. He said he saw me and knew about the bridge so followed me to try to catch me in time. He had his small son with him, and I thanked him profusely. Lesson to self--you bought that specific GPS not to be caught by low bridges, so don't go free-lancing and ignore it! I "probably" wouldn't have gone under it, and there was a small sign, but it had fallen over, so I was glad he caught me.

Got to campground and found out this is one of those places where the guys who put the water spigots in in just sort of randomly sprinkled them around. There is a one to be shared by two sites, but it may be placed in between the two sites, close to one site and far from the other, or way away from both sites. The site I had chosen would have required at least 60 feet of hose, and I have only 35 feet and my water pump is broken. Course I had already yanked on the picnic table to get it off the site before I had noticed this. Had to drive around until I found a new site, re-registered, and hauled another picnic table off the site. I am getting too old to lift and pull picnic tables around!!

Back is killing me from driving and picnic tables, so I just took half a muscle relaxant from my very small supply. Hope that helps. Probably need to take some aspirin as well. Finally had something to eat and am sitting down to dinner. Whew.

[Bethers]

We made it through opening day and the next few! Tomorrow will be the first day I don't have to be there at 6:30 - but I don't trust that the one assigned to open won't call with some sort of problem. Fingers crossed. I took a couple hour break yesterday and quit about 3 today - just went back to check on things, and am home for the night. YAY.

I also have cable tv now. Not many stations, but I don't watch much and it's just background noise sometimes. I had it last year and most sites didn't. I think they thought they cut it to all sites. So I just kept my mouth shut that these last two had it. It just got turned on to the motel it's connected to today (they open for the season tomorrow). I also helped the couple a few sites down from me - they were going to get a splitter to one of these two sites, but in looking around, they found the disconnected cable lol ... I try to take care of my people.

The two women say they don't care about tv - so will offer the cable at one of their sites to the last couple due to come in in a week or so. They'll just need a long cable.

The store is looking really good. I'm quite proud of that. And I have more product to come in - more displays to figure out where to put, etc.

Tomorrow night the other couple and I will go to dinner if I don't need to be at the store. There's a restaurant that changed hands - this year it's Mexican with a menu or buffet. I want to check it out.

Linda, I do wish you were here ... but we'll both have great summers. We won't allow anything to stop us.

[bikerchic777]

OMG, Judy So glad that guy flagged you down! I just have my Google Maps GPS, on my Android phone, but I try to compare the routes with my trucker's atlas. I love the back roads, but have to be careful, as I can't just back up and turn around, with a toad behind me. KY sure has some beautiful drives It's exceptionally beautiful with the fall colors, when I'm down there.

Beth...Hoping it's a great summer for both of us. Keep me posted on whether or not you're working, for sure, at Amazon. Would be fun if we were at the same cg I survived day 2! I got in before Allison, again, so cleaned the lodge restrooms and noticed the rag hamper was empty, so checked the dryer and they were in there. Allison must have washed them before she left, last night, so I folded them and put them away. The carpet guys were there, so they worked in the lodge, all day. I got Million (cool name, huh?) to help me move and get the big pressure washer going, so I could start cleaning the pool furniture. I worked on that ALL DAY Boy, am I going to be sore!!! I'm off for the next two days, so time to recover. Came home, took the boys out, and had a beer. Did that ever taste good, after a hard day's work! Fixed myself a nice dinner and called my Joshua Tree GF. Will probably not do much, tomorrow, but will probably head into Napa on Wed, to see what's what and do a little shopping.

[bluepinecones]

Beth, glad things are going more smoothly at the store.
Judy, good that you got a warning before reaching that bridge.

[gingerK]

Judy what GPS did you buy that tells you about bridges? It occurs to me that I might just want one now!

[Bethers]

I have an app on my phone called Low Clearance. I never use it, but is highly recommended for bridges, etc.

[JudyJB]

I have the Good Sam Rand McNally 7715 and love it. You enter height, weight, width, etc into it and it keeps you from going under low bridges. Or at least it does if you follow its routings. I had decided to take a "scenic" route and was ignoring its instructions. Bad move on my part.

Here is the newer model from Camping World: http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/it ... ally/77601 (This is a terrific price online, by the way, because I paid $350 for mine.)

When I first got my motorhome, I had a cheap one I used in my car. On my first weekend using the brand-new motorhome, the old GPS took me through downtown Mansfield, OH, on a work day. Mansfield is an older town in Ohio, so streets are narrow and turns sharp. Then it took me under a 12' bridge that was rounded. Yikes! My height at that time was 11' 8" so it was hairy. Then a month later, I almost went under a 10' 6" bridge in Mackinaw City, Michigan. Had to back up through a red light where people very kindly all stopped to let me back up. Double Yikes!

At that point I decided it was cheaper to buy a new RV GPS than to wipe out my AC or vent covers, or even my roof. This one chooses a route that does not have low bridge and weight restrictions, etc. Also, it will direct you to nearby campgrounds, truck stops, RV repair, etc. It also has a 7" screen which makes it easy to read from a distance. If you need a quick campground, it even lets you select from the type you want--state, federal, commercial, etc. It has really been worth the money.

[Liz]

I also have and recommend Rand McNally for RVs.

[monik7]

I also have and recommend Rand McNally for RVs.

Me too. I have the 7720. I think there's an updated version now.
Sandi

[bikerchic777]

I wasn't aware there were apps for phones, Beth, so will check that out. I know I did, in the past. I sold my Tom Tom. It wasn't that user friendly and I use my GPS on my Android phone. It's Google Maps and I love to turn it on when approaching a larger city, as it has real time traffic, and will give me the option to go around traffic jams and accidents. It really does work and when I have ignored it, thinking nothing was wrong, I was wrong! I would love to have more route options and know if they're doable in an RV.

My days off are Tues and Wed, so had a recovery day, today. After pressure washing pool deck furniture, all day yesterday, I needed it! It was a beautiful day! I love it when I can just have the windows open and no AC. I cooked a pancake breakfast on my electric griddle, out on the picnic table, this morning, for me and Rick. He donated bacon. We sat around all morning and chatted. I finally got off my butt and washed dishes and did some little things around Myrtle. I filled my water tank and had planned to just use my water pump, as my water pressure has been so low. I went over and looked at Rick's and his is good, so we checked a few things on mine. We finally decided it was probably my check valve, as it seemed to be hard to push in...like it had some deposits on it or something. Rick went on home and I was finishing up and noticed that my hose had a kink in it. REALLY??? Wonder why neither one of us noticed that? I hooked it back up and tried it, again, and guess what? Yep! DUH I went over to Rick's and said we are Dumb and Dumber At least I don't have to deal with filling and listening to the pump.

I was thinking of going into Napa, tomorrow, but realized I had signed up for my Amazon webinar, for noon, tomorrow. Bummer! This is something new for us, so it will probably be a waste of time, with audio problems, etc....and it's right in the middle of the day, Pacific Time. Hope it's not a total waste of time.

Oh...Yesterday, I met Jeremy. He's a young guy, working in maintenance, here on the ranch. He has my son's name, so already a plus I had heard he's a mechanic, so bent his ear a bit on my problem with Myrtle. He sounded like he knew what it could be, and probably fix it, so I asked him if he wanted a side job. He said yes and that he was hoping he would get some mechanic jobs while here. It will be nice if he can fix it, right here If I like his work and price, I may ask him to check some other things on Myrtle.

[Acadianmom]

My son gave me a Tom Tom last year and I don't like it either. I have yet to figure out how to go back a screen like I can do on my Garmin. He loaded campgrounds for Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Most of my trips are to Texas. On our last trip my sister and I were trying to find the KOA in Conroe. The TomTom said we had arrived 15 miles East of there. I knew that was wrong. We never could get it to come up even with the address. I wish he had told me he was getting me a GPS. I would have ask for one of the ones for RV's.

Martha

[JudyJB]

Almost had to "dry-camp" tonight. I drove 233 miles today, which does not sound like a lot, but at least 100 miles of it were on really curvy, no shoulder, local mountain roads--some in Kentucky and some in West Virginia on the way to this COE campground. And there was construction on I-64 which took an hour to drive 20 miles! It took me from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm to get here, which is very tiring at least for me. It was walk-in only, so I did not have a reservation. The sign said to find a spot and settle in and someone would come around for the money. Problem is I could not find any spots with city water and my water pump has not worked for several weeks. (Yes, AGAIN, and I have been talking with the Shur-Flo factory customer satisfaction guy!) I don't know how I could have missed that when I decided to come here, but I did, apparently.

Checked in with the camp host and told her I would probably stay only one night because of the water pump. She said since it was first-come first-served I could take the handicap site right next to the laundry. I had been told by more than one repairman that leaving the pump running without it working could burn out the motor, and so even though I had tried leaving it on 10-15 minutes in the past, I left it running for 30 minutes this time and Voila! I had water, so I can take a shower tonight. Also got two loads of laundry done, even if the water was cold. I am saving the towels and sheets until I can get hot water.

I was supposed to drive to my Ohio campsite near my son in one hard day on Monday, but since the roads are so winding here, I think I will leave on Sunday to break it up. 320 miles is too many for me in one shot!

[bikerchic777]

Judy...Glad your water pump started working, again I bought a quieter spare, when I bought Myrtle. I had heard they can go bad, but then others tell me it's rare. Maybe having the spare has spared me It looks easy to install, so maybe you could put in a new one and get them to reimburse you.

Allison was off, today, so she was supposed to leave me a list of what she wanted me to do. I couldn't find one, but didn't have any problem keeping busy. I expected the carpet installation to be finished, but there was one guy there, this morning, finishing up. He finished just before I went to lunch. I pressure washed pool furniture, again, all morning (there's a lot!). After lunch, I vacuumed the new carpet in the lodge. I can't just vacuum the carpet...I vacuumed the baseboards, corners, window ledges, etc. I can tell it doesn't normally get done. Sure looks nice to have the new carpet. We'll be busy, tomorrow, getting all the furniture, etc, set back up. I'm hoping I have time to clean the toys and organize the books, etc. We have a Mother's Day brunch buffet on Saturday. Still don't know what that entails. Allison said it's easy, so I'm thinking some of the ranch owners volunteer....I hope!

Hoping for a quieter night, tonight. Rags kept barking at critters, outside, last night. Finally had to shut him in the bedroom, with me. Still didn't sleep restful. Had weird dreams of Rick, being a jerk We're actually getting along fine...as friends and coworkers. Romance is dead.